NORTH DAKOTA (KXNET) — Meeting the demands of the workforce. That's what the University of North Dakota is trying to do after announcing earlier this month its fast-track agreement with the FAA, which would help fill air traffic controller jobs for college graduates without having to attend the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City. Despite some air traffic controllers' opening positions having thousands of applicants, according to the assistant chair of air traffic management, Craig Carlson, training at even a smaller facility can be a long process "Even one of the slowest places you can go, like a slow tower facility, let's say you're still going to be taking up to six months to train at one of those facilities," said Carlson. Carlson says a common misunderstanding is that many of the people counted as air traffic controllers are still waiting to undergo certain training. "You'll go through, let's say you have five positions in your area, you'll go through five of them, once you go through the five of them, you'll wait to go through a class to get radar trained, I believe at least when I was in the FAA there were two people needed for a training team for one trainee," said Carlson. What to know about participating in Dry January Carlson also notes that many controllers will remain at one tower their whole career, something that wasn't as common in the past. "You live there and you're comfortable with what you're getting paid, there's no reason to move because if you move to another facility, like I mentioned, you're going to have to go back into training, I don't think there is as much movement in years past with different generations," said Carlson. However, Carlson says that the University of North Dakota's enhanced program, which looks to teach the academy standards to college graduates, will make the hiring process easier for graduates. "Having an enhanced program is to teach the academy curriculum at the college so they can start applying for jobs their last year in college, then they can go through your security clearance medical clearance background investigation get all that stuff done a few weeks out of college," said Carlson. As of this year, there are over 100 air traffic controllers in North Dakota and 14,000 nationwide. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Today's Top Stories SIGN UP NOW