Trade schools have recently begun to gain popularity with younger generations. According to the Atlantic, enrollment in trade schools vs traditional colleges is nearly even with 16 million in trade schools and 16.9 million in traditional colleges as of 2016. This is a huge rise from 2000 when there were only 9 million people enrolled in trade schools.
Currently, the biggest reason why high schoolers are choosing trade school over college seems to be money. Your average four-year college can cost up to $27,000 per year, while your average trade school program costs between five to fifteen thousand per year. Keeping in mind that on average trade school only takes 2 years at most a person could save nearly $70,000.
Beyond that people are beginning to notice that you could have salaries that are better than peers with bachelor’s degrees. Take teachers for example, on average teachers in the United States make $62,000 per year while on the other hand, your average truck driver can make closer to $70,000.
Construction fields in particular have seen huge growth, journeymen now make between $37 to $47 an hour. A big reason why a lot of these skills jobs are seeing such a salary bump is because they are very understaffed and are trying to create an incentive to work there.
Along with that many people feel lost after college and find it hard to get a job after. According to the daily republic ” [Trade schools] are designed to prepare students for immediate entry into the workforce.” this means there is no worry after school on where you will work.
Trade Schools make sure you get work experience as a student allowing for better opportunities. Along with with that according to the U.S Career Institute “Trade school graduates actually tend to have more job security than college graduates”.
Many people still believe that college is the right choice, an article written on Medium talks about the fact that depending on the degree you get and the college you go to your starting pay will be higher and you will be a more sought after employe.
Trade schools growth don’t show signs of stoping, People believe that there will be a point where Trade school become more popular then colleges.
