For the 2026 – 2027 school year, the Altoona district has decided to no longer accept incoming freshmen students into the GACTC (Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center). 

According to superintendent Brad Hatch, the choice was made “not to limit opportunity, rather, increase opportunity and consideration for students in grades 10-12.” 

“We annually have hundreds of kids who are not accepted,” Hatch said. “Typical incoming ninth grade interest is about 200-250 applicants with only about 30% of those students being accepted.  All GACTC programs can be completed by starting in tenth grade, and the likelihood of getting your top program choice increases in tenth grade.” 

GACTC Assistant Principal Chelsea Gibbons considers having freshmen to be a “bonus.” 

“Altoona always sent up to 100 [freshmen] and Hollidaysburg would send up to 30,” Gibbons said. “Our programs, for the most part, can be completed in two years. Three years is kind of the sweet spot. Our students that were attending in ninth grade, and have been here for four years, we ran stats and 33% of them from the last five years ended up going on co-op their entire senior year.” 

Incoming freshmen have been given notice about the changes. 

“We gave plenty of notice to current eighth graders and their families, and they will have the opportunity to take high school provided electives that they otherwise would not have been able to take since GACTC takes up three to four periods of their day,” Hatch said. “We are also looking at adding some elective opportunities in STEM areas that might mirror some GACTC programming.”

In comparing last year’s number to this year’s, the GACTC applications are at 476 currently, with 132 of those applications being from Altoona students. 

“[From] where we were last year, we are roughly 100 [applications] short – not counting ninth grade,” Gibbons said.

Due to the loss of freshmen applicants from Altoona, Gibbons plans to reach out to counselors. 

“Probably in February, we are going to see if there are students that maybe missed the boat on CTC,” Gibbons said. “If they’re going into their junior year and are like, ‘man, I wish I applied last year,’ it’s not too late. We would like to tell those students it is not.” 

CTC programs, with good attendance, can be completed in 720 hours, which would be able to be done in two years, meaning incoming juniors are still eligible to complete the curriculum. 

“The main hope is to increase the consideration of students who have not been accepted into GACTC programming,” Hatch said. “Our goal would be to have students considered for programming that might increase their engagement and attendance in their education and provide them with opportunities for post high school goals.” 

Senior Liam King-Settles is a senior CTC student, who entered the program as a freshman. 

 “It might be discouraging to some freshmen coming in because they might be really motivated to get hands-on with some careers that might not be available in high school,” King-Settles said. 

Although he thinks it could be “discouraging” for freshmen, King-Settles views the change as a “benefit” for upperclassmen.

“There’s advantages and disadvantages,” King-Settles said. “I like and dislike it personally. Being a senior there, I enjoyed being a freshman going in. But for the freshmen who wanted to go and can’t now, I’d say, stick with it if you really want to try.”

“I feel like it is kind of disappointing because you only get three years instead of four,” junior Hayden Eichenlaub.”On the upside, those who have been trying to get into a certain program for a while now have better odds.”

Gibbons feels the atmosphere of the CTC is different than within the halls of a high school. 

“We can really foster and develop some really cool relationships,” she said. “That’s why I think it becomes a favorite part of students day. The relationships we can build are unlike any other because we [the CTC] get you for two, three, sometimes four years, for two and a half hours a day. You’re going to build a pretty solid relationship with the students in class as well as the teacher administration.”