(FinCon and the Center for Financial Services Innovation are sponsoring the #FinHealthMatters writing/podcasting contest. Here’s my entry.)
A recent Facebook post about college featured a couple of 20-somethings. One was a slacker dude lamenting, “I spent $60,000 on a worthless degree and no one will hire me.”
The other was a clean-cut young man happily announcing, “I spent $6,000 at a trade school and make $85,000 a year.”
Obviously things aren’t that simple. Some high-cost degrees immediately lead to high-paying jobs, and not every skilled tradesperson automatically rakes in the bucks.
But its core message is one I’ve been espousing for years:
There is more than one road to postsecondary education.
If you’re unsure what you want to do with your life, college might not be a good fit. And even if higher education is in your future, it might not look the way you imagined.
Our country is obsessed with college. On paper, that means we love our kids and want them to explore their potential. Ideally, college will help them get jobs that match their abilities and pay a living wage. But some people are interested in jobs that don’t require four-year degrees (more on that below), and others have no idea what they want to do for a living.
You could be one of the lucky ones who goes to college without a clue and discovers his/her Grand Passion while taking core courses. On the other hand, you might also wind up like Slacker Dude: tens of thousands in debt and nowhere close to paid employment.
“Skilled services” needed
Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of all U.S. workers don’t have four-year degrees, according to the Good Jobs Project, a project of Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. These folks aren’t necessarily mired in low-paying gigs, either.
Some 30 million jobs that don’t require bachelor’s degrees exist right now. The project defines “good” jobs as those that pay at least $17 an hour for workers under 45, and at least $22 an hour for those 45 and older.
Demand is huge in the “skilled services” sector. A study from Georgetown University and JP Morgan Chase & Co. says that 4 million such positions have opened up in recent years, offsetting the loss of more than 2.8 million good jobs in manufacturing.
The top five occupations:
- Sales/office-related
- Management and business and financial operations
- Healthcare practitioners and STEM
- Natural resources, construction and extraction
- Transportation and material moving
Median salaries in those fields range from $53,000 to $63,000.
The biggest area of growth is in jobs that require two-year degrees. Community colleges offer loads of options including but certainly not limited to medical assisting, information technology, accounting, phlebotomy, carpentry, welding, pharmacy technician and retail management.
You could also try a hybrid approach. For example, you might seek an office-manager job at a real estate agency and take pre-licensing courses at community college in the evening. You’d learn on the job by observing agents at work and also get a clearer picture of the residential and commercial markets in your area. Best-case scenario: An agent would offer to mentor you.
Consider the trades
Baby Boom tradespeople are retiring, which means that jobs are opening up. According to Georgetown University, some 600,000 electrician jobs exist in the U.S. – and half these posts will become available over the next decade. Also expected are numerous openings for jobs like construction worker, plumber, welder and nuclear power plant staffer.
Trade schools can teach you to be a truck driver, electrical lineman, professional cook, heavy equipment operator, welder, a carpenter. You can become an aviation mechanic or an able seaman. As noted earlier, many trades are also taught at community colleges.
The real question is how many young people are interested in such fields. Too many parents believe that nothing will do but degrees (preferably advanced degrees), followed by professional or at least white-collar jobs. Trouble is, not every kid knows early on that she wants to be a lawyer, a doctor, a stockbroker. Those who aren’t really sure may be pressured to attend college anyway, because it’s What One Does.
Here’s an example. A young guy I know – call him “Bob” – enrolled at a university to please his parents, but dropped out in the first semester because it just wasn’t a good fit. He wound up apprenticing with the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union. It’s a tough job but a rewarding one – he helps build hospitals and power plants – and it pays superbly.
Explore all options, including college
Some people who don’t have specific career goals do just fine with four-year liberal arts or humanities degrees, especially if these programs teach what employers call “soft skills”: critical reasoning, creative problem-solving, communication and collaboration.
Know this, however: It’s possible to walk a different path. A traditional four-year degree is not the answer for everyone. Talk with your parents and your guidance counselor, and visit a community college or trade school to learn about your options. You could wind up seeking a traditional degree after all.
But you might also realize that you’re not sure what you want to do, or that you’re simply not ready for four more years of education. That different path – trade school, an associate’s degree, an apprenticeship – is not necessarily a one-way street. It’s possible to change your mind later on.
That’s where Bob is right now. Recently a contractor suggested that a business degree, combined with Bob’s work ethic, would let him open his own contracting firm some day. He never envisioned being back in the classroom, but he’s considering it.
Just as a four-year degree doesn’t guarantee success, the lack of a degree doesn’t preclude it. Don’t drift into either decision. Investigate all options so that you can make the choice that’s right for you.
College is optional. Education is not.
That is a great article. Wish more people felt that way.
Thanks! Feel free to share the URL — especially with those who have teenagers.
This was some great reading that I actually needed right now as I am considering going back to school. But even at this late age I am not sure exactly what I want to do or if I want to embark on more years of college.
When I was teaching middle school, I told my students that college is a shorthand way of saying post-high school education. I explained that they really needed post-high school training, showed them graphs showing the difference between the money a high school graduate makes vs. someone with college and someone with technical training, etc., etc. Not sure if they got the message but I had to get my oar in the water, if you know what I mean!!
Melissa F., why not explore what your local community college has to offer? You could also go to your local State Department of Employment and Training and see what kind of career guidance they offer. Not sure where you live, but here in New England, there is a crying need for people in the allied health sciences. Many programs last only 12-24 months and the jobs pay pretty well. Some start at $20 an hour go up from there.
There is a big shortage of truck drivers…here in Hawaii, but I see it on the news in other places too. I have heard of several truck drivers being hired from overseas. They return home after touring the USA for free for a few years and with enough money to buy a house. It is noticeable that during hiring process, many young people do not have much driving experience….or even a driving licence…..which was unthinkable in the baby boomer era. Many others do not pass the drug test.
Believe that would go under “transportation and material moving” — there is money to be had if you’ve got the right temperament and physical abilities for driving and moving things.
Long-haul truck driving is tough, exhausting work. There’s a lot of demand right now because experienced drivers are ageing out of the workforce and not being replaced by enough younger people. But the demand is unlikely to last: this one of the many jobs that can be done by a robot. Self-driving trucks have already been designed; it’s only a matter of time before the US truck fleet is roboticized.
Great post. Not going to college wasn’t a choice in my family. I had no idea what I was doing, and dropped out after my first semester. After working some years I went back, but left again. Third time was a charm, and I finally found my niche, and made it through grad school too. I always advise those unsure about college to wait until they figure their path out. College is really expensive now and there are so many excellent alternatives. Donna, I hope your post reaches many who are not sure what path to take.
Excellent, common sense article!!
Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs Guy) has a scholarship program for the skilled trades. If anyone has a family member/friend interested, it’s worth taking a look.
Nice! Thanks for sharing that info.
The best keep secret is most large companies have some sort of tuition reimbursement program. Start as entry-level. Figure out what you want to do and then ask how they can help you train for the next step. Some companies will even pay your wages while you are in school.
Look up companies you like and search the benefits section for “tuition reimbursement” or apprenticeship.
Excellent advice.
Hey, Donna! Great article!
I’m one of those who went to college directly after high school because it was what one did and earned a four-year degree. Nearly fifteen years later, I went back to school and earned a two-year degree in a completely unrelated field. Based on my own experiences and those of others I’ve talked to, I wholeheartedly recommend programs in the skilled trades and technical degrees. I also think it can be an excellent idea to spend some years in the workforce after high school or a two-year degree and enter college, if at all, as a non-traditional student.
My own sons, now in their mid-twenties, are finally getting serious about post-secondary education, and they’re asking very intelligent questions. I’ve encouraged them to talk to a guidance counselor at our local community college, because even if they decide to go on to university, they’re both looking at community college as a point of entry. (And here in NC, academic credits earned at any community college will transfer directly to any of our state universities. Win!)
The word I hear from people I know in the skilled trades–construction, court reporting, etc–is that there’s going to be a lot of opportunity there, because folks are aging out and younger people aren’t coming in to replace them. I also hear from folks in the employment industry that workers with soft skills are thin on the ground. I thought it was a local problem until I read articles indicating it’s an issue in other parts of the country as well. There are definitely opportunities out there.
Again, great article–and you may be sure I’ll be passing it on!
Good article and very true. I’m in dental hygiene school now, I’ve got one more year to go. I’ll have an associates, but the ability to have a decent paying job, with no weird hours.
My sister has been a dental hygienist for decades. Very satisfying (if occasionally stressful) job and it does pay quite well.
Yes! you’ve mentioned that in other posts, and it’s part of the reason I’m in hygiene school. I read it in one or two of your posts. I believe you mentioned it somewhere with other jobs that pay well but require less than a four year degree. Then I did some research and decided to go for it.
The trick is to get into something that can’t be offshored AND can’t be done by a robot. The next wave of college graduates (and blue-collar workers) is going to be hit by the mechanization of jobs, some of them very sophisticated. A medical doctor in radiology, for example, can be replaced by a robot. As for the trades: ??? Many of those also will be done by machines. Choose carefully!
It also depends on what the economy is doing when you graduate. Friends of my son went to an expensive graduate school of international management. It had a renowned reputation for excellence and for landing its graduates $100,000/year jobs straight out of the program. In their last year, the Bush economy crashed, and NO ONE among the graduates could get any such vaunted job. HR people who showed up for the school’s famed annual jobs fair told them that they had no jobs to offer and were there wasting time only because months before they agreed to come. The young man was affluent and could afford to idle away months unemployed; he went to Taiswan (his mother was Chinese and he spoke the language fluently), loafed around, did nothing. The young woman, who certainly was not affluent (her mother waited tables for a living) went home to northern California and started paying the monstrous student loan debt by harvesting marijuana (illegally at the time); then ended up in New York making coffee at a Starbuck’s.
Within the next 20 years, a lot of Americans will be put out of work by the digitization and mechnanization of the workplace. Pay attention to what’s going on in that department, lest you find yourself among the rest of our former middle class.
Encourage your kids to try the diesel mechanic route. My agriculture equipment company is in need of 30 technicians in Ohio and Indiana. And these jobs aren’t the same as they’ve always been. With the advances in technology, these jobs are very high-tech and attractive to tech-savvy people.
Great topic! I have a completely self-funded community college AA and had a career in sales, mostly outside sales, with a decade of retail sandwiched in the middle. I was single until I was in my 50’s and always thought my retirement would be self-funded, too.
DH was a widower when we wed. He also went to cc on his own dime for about a year, mostly because he thought he was supposed to. He’s always been mechanically inclined. He worked in a motorcycle shop from age 14. He eventually became a painting contractor. At some point, he realized he was earning a lot, but not saving much. He went to work as a painter for a public utility for their generous benefits. It was a huge pay cut, so he did houses on the side. Eventually his pay rose. He has every holiday and a lot of vacation time, he pays zero health care premiums or deductibles, and our co-pay are tiny. He also gets a Defined Benefit Pension. Each of us has always lived within our means, but we also live in a super HCOLA. Together, we are millionaires. Crazy, right??
I longed to go back to college for years, just for the sake of a piece of paper. Now that we’re FI and I’m five years FIRE, I’m so glad I didn’t do it. Who knew?
P.S. We met when he painted my house! He was referred to me by a friend when the first quote I got was crazy high. Frugality pays!
See, everyone: Frugality can be romantic! Congratulations to you two on finding each other and also being financially independent.
When I returned to college in my late 40s I started out at a community college. Thank goodness: It was there that I not only re-learned how to go to school, but also found out about a three-year scholarship to the University of Washington that’s available only to cc graduates.
Thanks for reading, and for sharing your story.
I’ve taught at two charter schools. It just about killed me that we were doing the students a HUGE disservice by pushing college, college, college. Most of my students were bright kids, but they were NOT college material and NOT motivated to learn to write well enough to succeed in higher education.They also hated to read anything other than social media on their cell phones — not a good sign. The majority would be better served in the (well-paying) trades. I steered some toward that route and some of my boys are going to be welders earning megabucks. The administrators at the second school were unhappy that I suggested college, esp. expensive private colleges, are not a one size fit all proposition and I was let go. Sad.
I keep telling people that guidance counselors may very well want what’s best for their students — but also that (a) they’ve swallowed the “you must go to college!” line and (b) it’s in their schools’ best interest to be able to boast about how many of their students go on to college or university.
But they won’t be there to help pay back those student loans.