For many Gen Z students, skipping college for a trade may be their best bet

I’m a bit of an introvert. When I attend a big event, I keep to the few people I know.

For a dinner party, I have a different strategy. The technique works best at an upper-middle-class confab filled with upwardly mobile parents and their teenage kids.

I ask 17-year-old Skyler what he plans to do once he graduates high school. “Mom wants me to go to study computer science at Stanford, but I like sports medicine.”

“Have you considered a trade?” I helpfully ask. “If you’re good with your hands, apprentice as a plumber, then hang up a shingle in north Scottsdale. You’ll be loaded.”

This is when mom swoops in to move Skyler to the other side of the upscale home.

After I suggest welding or the military to 16-year-old Zoë, I’m shunned by all the partygoers, and I can get back to hanging out with the Welsh Corgis.

More of Gen Z is skipping college for trades

I’m not invited to dinner parties anymore, but Skyler and Zoë might have taken my advice. Or at least their friends did.

Many Gen Zers are opting to skip college for now and pick up a solid trade instead.

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, there has been a 16% increase of enrollments at two-year schools with a “high vocational program focus.” Community colleges had a smaller jump, increasing 2.6% in 2023.

In comparison, college enrollment has experienced a steady decline since 2010, dropping 14.6% in the decade since. Although the latest year tracked is 2021, reporting showed that pandemic disruption further hurt university recruitment.

“It’s a really smart route for kids who want to find something and aren’t gung ho on going to college,” Tanner Burgess, 20, told The Wall Street Journal after completing a welding program.

They also talked to Alezet Valerio, 18, who started working at a Phoenix construction site right out of high school. Nine months into her career, she’s making $24 an hour and is considering a degree in construction management.

“I’m building skyscrapers and building a career out of it,” she said.

Pay is better than many professional jobs

All of this makes sense, both professionally and financially. Young people can make good money more quickly without incurring the massive debt looming over today’s college grads.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 43 million Americans are carrying this burden, with the average borrower owing $37,000.

Meanwhile, after a few years of working, twenty-something tradespeople are buying homes and starting their own businesses.

Universities need help: To make college more affordable

The median pay for new construction hires was $48,089 last year, compared to $39,520 for new hires in professional services. According to payroll-services provider ADP, pay for new hires in construction increased 5.1% last year, nearly double the increase for professional services.

Trade jobs are also less subject to replacement by AI and other technologies. Some tech exec might make good money before student loan payments, but he’ll pay some kid a fortune to unclog his toilet.

If there’s a dummy in that scenario, it ain’t the kid.

Work now, college later is also an option

Working with your hands isn’t for everyone; neither is college.

In my case, I wasn’t suited for either right after high school, so I did a tour of duty in the Navy. A few years of intensive nuclear reactor training and sleepless weeks on a submarine made getting straight A’s at university a breeze.

A lot of younger people will pursue a trade now and get some schooling after, loan-free. With a few business courses at a local community college, many will start their own businesses and pay the next generation to do the dirtier work.

I’m not sure where Skyler and Zoë ended up. But I might be giving them my hard-earned money for rewiring my patio or finishing the kitchen cabinets.

Jon Gabriel, a Mesa resident, is editor-in-chief of Ricochet.com and a contributor to The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. On X, formerly Twitter: @exjon.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Skipping college for a trade may be a smart move for Gen Z students