Columbia Area Vocational Technical School

What Columbia Area Vocational Technical School does

Columbia Area Vocational Technical School, doing business as Columbia Area Career Center (CACC), is a public secondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) institution operating within Columbia Public Schools District in Columbia, Missouri. Its primary function is to deliver tuition-free CTE programming to high school students drawn from five in-district high schools, organized across six occupational clusters: Arts & Communication, Business Management & Technology, Health Services, Human Services, Industrial & Engineering Technology, and Natural Resources Agriculture. The institution is co-located at 4203 South Providence Road and operates with a reported headcount in the 11-50 range.

The business model is fundamentally a publicly funded education delivery model rather than a commercial enterprise. The high school program is funded through Columbia Public Schools District and state education allocations, with no tuition charged to in-district students. A parallel adult-education revenue stream is operated through third-party online platform partnerships with ed2go and Careerstep, which extend the institution's reach to fee-paying adult learners outside the K-12 pipeline. A Career Center College Credit offering further layers articulated post-secondary credit on top of the CTE curriculum, signaling an intent to bridge secondary and post-secondary credentials.

The technical footprint is modest and administrative rather than product-driven: the public-facing website runs on Finalsite CMS with multilingual translation capability. There is no disclosed proprietary technology platform, no in-house software development function, and no AI/ML tooling referenced in the available data. Strategic differentiation rests on regulatory status, district-level enrollment access, and the breadth of its six program clusters rather than on technology assets.

Name

Columbia Area Vocational Technical School

Legal name

Columbia Area Career Center

Website

https://career-center.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Columbia Area Career Center is a public CTE institution within Columbia Public Schools District in Columbia, Missouri, delivering tuition-free career and technical education across six program clusters to students from five in-district high schools and fee-based adult learners through ed2go and Careerstep.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Career and Technical Education

NAICS

Technical and Trade Schools (6115), Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (611310)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Technical Community Colleges (Applied/CTE-Focused) (EDAHADAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Public Community Colleges (EDAHADAA), Leadership, Service Learning & Volunteer-to-Career Pathways (EDAMAKAJ), Graduate & Professional School Preparation (EDALABAI)

Keywords

• Career and technical education
• Vocational training programs
• Adult continuing education
• College credit pathways
• Public high school CTE

Headquarters

HQ city

Columbia

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Public Education Funding: The Columbia Area Career Center operates as a public vocational-technical school within the Columbia Public School District, funded through district budgets, state education funding, and potentially federal career and technical education grants. As a public institution, no tuition is charged to high school students for participation in CTE programs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Columbia Area Career Center is a public vocational-technical school that delivers career and technical education programs to high school students of the Columbia Public Schools District across six career pathway areas, plus adult continuing-education courses through partnerships with ed2go and Careerstep. The institution also facilitates a College Credit program enabling dual enrollment and supports student leadership organizations such as DECA and HOSA. Programs are offered at no cost to district high school students and via paid enrollment for adult learners through partner platforms.

Product overview

Columbia Area Career Center (CACC) is a career and technical education institution within Columbia Public Schools offering a unified platform of vocational programs for high school students. The core offering includes career pathway programs across six major areas: Arts & Communication, Business Management & Technology, Health Services, Human Services, Industrial & Engineering Technology, and Natural Resources Agriculture. These are supplemented by adult education curriculum programs delivered through ed2go partnerships, a College Credit program enabling dual enrollment, and student organizations (DECA, HOSA) for competitive and leadership development. The institution serves as the career development hub for multiple Columbia Public Schools high schools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Career and Technical Education Programs Vocational and technical education programs for Columbia Public Schools high school students covering six career pathways: Arts & Communication, Business Management & Technology, Health Services, Human Services, Industrial & Engineering Technology, and Natural Resources Agriculture.
• College Credit Program Program enabling high school students to earn college credits while completing their high school education, providing a pathway to higher education and career advancement through dual enrollment.
• Adult Career Training (ed2go partnership) Self-paced online courses for adult learners and working professionals across business, technology, healthcare, trades, hospitality, language, legal, education, and writing disciplines, offered through the ed2go partner platform.
• Short-Term Career Courses Accelerated vocational courses providing targeted skill training in condensed timeframes for adult learners and career changers, delivered online through ed2go.
• Student Leadership Organizations (DECA and HOSA) Career and technical student organizations offering competitive events, leadership development, and networking opportunities in marketing/business (DECA) and health sciences (HOSA), with progression to state and international competitions.

Quantifiable outcome

• Students qualified for national and international competitions in DECA and HOSA leadership conferences.
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• ed2gocoreTechnology or Integrationed2go is a partnership platform providing online career training and professional development programs to adult learners. Through this partnership, the Columbia Area Career Center offers short-term courses in business, computer applications, computer science, construction and trades, health and fitness, hospitality, information technology, language, legal studies, teacher professional development, and writing. Students access these programs through the ed2go platform while the career center facilitates enrollment and program coordination.
• CareerstepcoreTechnology or IntegrationCareerstep provides online career training programs with a focus on healthcare, technology, and business fields. The partnership enables the Columbia Area Career Center to offer professional certification preparation and workforce training programs to adult learners in the Columbia, Missouri region and beyond through the Careerstep platform.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• ECPI University: For-profit institution offering career-focused associate and bachelor's programs in technology, health, and trades. Comparable as a CTE-style career education provider but operates at a national, private, postsecondary scale.
• Universal Technical Institute: Large for-profit provider of technical and workforce training across transportation, skilled trades, and energy. Comparable on the CTE/training content axis but commercial, multi-state, and credential-driven rather than publicly funded at the secondary level.

Others

• Careerstep: Online career training provider in healthcare, technology, and business used by CACC for adult-learner programs. Functions as a partner platform analogous to ed2go rather than a direct competitor.
• ed2go: CACC's primary online adult continuing-education distribution partner. Comparable as a CTE-adjacent channel but acts as a platform/partner rather than a competitor, intermediating CACC's adult learner offerings.

Direct peers

• Ranken Technical College: Private nonprofit technical college in St. Louis offering hands-on career and technical programs in trades, technology, and design. Comparable to CACC's CTE focus, though it operates at the postsecondary level and as an independent private institution.
• State Technical College of Missouri: Public two-year technical college in Linn, Missouri, focused on applied/CTE programs leading to certificates and associate degrees. Closely comparable to CACC's applied career-technical orientation and its public, workforce-driven funding model.
• Lake Area Technical College: Public technical college in Watertown, South Dakota, nationally recognized for applied CTE outcomes and industry partnerships. Comparable in mission and CTE focus, but it is a standalone postsecondary institution rather than a high school district CTE center.

Regional players

• Ozarks Technical Community College: Missouri public community college with strong technical and workforce programs across multiple campuses. Comparable as a Missouri-based public CTE provider but serves a broader postsecondary audience across a wider geography than CACC.
• Moberly Area Community College: Missouri public community college offering career-technical and associate degree pathways, including dual-enrollment options for area high schools. Overlaps with CACC's CTE and dual-credit orientation but serves a different regional catchment.
• Metropolitan Community College (Kansas City): Multi-campus Missouri public community college delivering CTE, workforce training, and dual-enrollment programs. Comparable in CTE scope but operates at larger scale and at the postsecondary level rather than embedded in a high school district.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CACC_CPS
• Facebookfacebook.com/298231
• Instagraminstagram.com/cacc.cps
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cps-cacc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Columbia Area Vocational Technical School