Why 1 in 3 Parents Are Ditching College Dreams for Trade School Success

For decades, a college degree was considered the golden ticket to a successful career. But with AI disrupting entry-level hiring and college costs skyrocketing, a growing number of parents are steering their children toward alternative paths—and the numbers prove they might be onto something.

The Shift in Parental Attitudes

According to a late 2025 survey by Britebound (formerly American Student Assistance), which polled over 2,200 parents of middle and high school students, one in three parents are now open to their kids attending trade school instead of pursuing a traditional four-year degree. This represents a dramatic increase from just 13% in 2019.

While parents still prefer college for their children, that preference has dropped significantly—to 58%, a 16 percentage point decline from 2019. The sentiment is mutual: 70% of teens report their parents are more supportive of forgoing college in favor of trade school or apprenticeships.

"Parents are waking up. College doesn’t carry the same [return on investment] it once did, because the cost is outrageous, and the outcome is uncertain," says Trevor Houston, a career strategist at ClearPath Wealth Strategies. "Students now face the highest amount of debt ever recorded, but job security after graduation doesn’t really exist."

The Financial Reality: College vs. Trade School

The average annual cost of college in the U.S., including tuition and room and board, exceeds $38,000 per student—more than double what it was at the start of the century. Meanwhile, over 4 million Gen Zers are jobless and blame their "worthless" college degrees.

In contrast, trade schools, apprenticeships, boot camps, and certification programs offer a much more affordable path. For example, a coding boot camp can cost as little as $7,000—a fraction of the price of a single year of college.

High-Paying Trade Jobs Without a Degree

One of the biggest draws of trade school is the potential for strong ROI and six-figure salaries. According to the National Society of High School Scholars, some of the highest-paying trade jobs include:

• Aircraft mechanics ($135,628)
• Plumbers, pipe fitters, and steamfitters ($132,275)
• Construction managers ($130,000)
• Industrial electricians ($122,500)
• Energy technicians ($115,076)

"An aging workforce in the trades and a surge in demand to meet infrastructure needs, ever-growing real estate demands, and changes to U.S. energy production mean that there are considerably more job openings than skilled workers to fill the need," explains Julie Lammers, president and CEO of Britebound.

The Rise of "New-Collar" Jobs

Programs like IBM’s apprenticeship initiative, launched in 2017, focus on training people for "new-collar jobs"—roles that prioritize skills over degrees in fields like cybersecurity, data science, AI, and cloud computing. These careers can also lead to six-figure salaries.

In late 2025, the Trump administration announced the Tech Force program, which offers $150,000 to $200,000 salaries for technology professionals willing to serve two-year stints at federal agencies—no college degree or prior experience required.

"This is a clarion call," said Scott Kupor, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. "If you want to help your country lead in the age of rapid technological advancement, we need you."

Addressing the Workforce Gap

The federal government has also launched initiatives like the Early Career Talent Network to recruit entry-level workers, recognizing the looming retirement of nearly half the workforce within the next decade.

"We’ve got close to half of our population that’s within 10 years of retirement age," Kupor notes. "So if you just did nothing else, you’ve got this major demographic challenge of a large number of people who will likely either retire or certainly be retirement-eligible over the near term, without us actually replenishing the pipeline of early-career people coming in."