More area students turning to trade programs
Immediate career start proves enticing option
Seventeen- year- old Vernon Hucks will start his career just days after graduating from Westinghouse High School this month.
Throughout high school, Vernon, who is joining the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters apprenticeship program, learned carpentry skills. When he started, he didn’t know how to use a power tool, and now he’s building cabinets. That work is built into his Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Career and Technical Education program.
“It was just something that was hands-on,” he said. “It wasn’t behind the computer.”
Vernon represents a new wave of interest in career and technical education for students opting out of college. Even as the job market starts to bounce back and inflation eases, surging tuition costs, the prospect of loan debt and availability of jobs appear to be deterring more students from the traditional college route.
At the same time, more school districts and states are adding career and technical education programs that prepare students for careers. Once known as vocational schools that offered wood shop and home economics for academically struggling students, these programs have evolved and ready students for well-paying jobs. About 8.3 million high school students participated in career and technology education programs in 2020-21, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Angela Mike, executive director of Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Career and Technical Education program, says 500 students participated this past school year. They spent three class periods a day, or two hours, on their chosen trade. They start in 10th grade. The idea is to leave with career- ready skills and industry credentials. The 16 programs range from food service to health care to information technology.
“While college may be one route, I think young people are now in the mode of being more immediate,” she said. “With CTE, you can jump right into an entry level job after high school.”
In 2022, 4 million fewer people in the country enrolled at a college than 10 years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated the decline, with a 10% decrease in sign-ups, according to the World Economic Forum.
Pennsylvania’s enrollment numbers are seeing the same dips, according to Carrie Amann, executive director of the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association. By 2029, Pennsylvania is expected to have 12% fewer college students than it did in 2013.
“Your community colleges and four-year universities have decreased and a number of people are attributing that to choices that young adults are making around affordability,” she said.
She also says it can come down to the cost-benefit analysis: what benefits are students getting for the cost of education? With trade schools, the career prospects can look more clear, such as for students like Vernon who already completed a CTE program in high school.
“There’s an immediate value connection when they graduate high school, right?” Ms. Amann said. “They can say, ‘Oh, I have demonstrated the skills that employers want, and I can have probably a more immediate connection between what I was trained in in school, and where I can work.’”
That was certainly the outcome for Vernon.
His great-grandfather was a welder, and his uncle was a construction worker, so he always thought about pursuing something similar. During his freshman year, he remembers when the school library hosted a showcase for CTE programs. Carpentry immediately caught his eye.
Vernon said his first year was focused on learning theory and the basics of using tools, as well as getting OSHA safety training. The following years turned to projects. This year, he built a tiny house with his classmates. He even built a new desk for his instructor.
His three-year CTE program also prepared him for the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute’s carpentry assessment – he passed.
“What I enjoyed most is starting with nothing and then looking at your end result,” he said. “Without this, I definitely wouldn’t be where I am. This is a great program.”
He says many of his classmates in the program plan to stick with the trade school route. While it makes sense for his career path, he says the decision was also about putting aside misconceptions that universities are the only path to success.
“I thought you had to go to college and you had to have a degree to get a good job or a career,” he said.
Ms. Mike also said students want those in-demand jobs.
According to an in-demand occupations list published by the Center for Workforce Information and Analysis last year, among the jobs projected to see the most growth by 2030 are in the health, tech and hospitality sectors.
“The majority of the jobs that are available through our labor market data is in technical fields,” she said. “Finally, I think it’s starting to sink in where the jobs are.”
That trend is also apparent at the A.W. Beattie Career Center. Beattie delivers 20 programs to high schoolers, who come to the center a portion of the day for training. The center almost mimics a high school campus itself, with red lockers lining the hallways. And as for its classrooms, rather than just desks, chairs and white boards, one can find a hair salon, auto shop, restaurant and a daycare, all of which are open to the public.
According to the center’s executive director, Eric Heasley, their enrollment four years ago, was at 700. Now it’s at 1,100.
“They’re leaving with a number of industry certifications or credentials that they’re able to apply immediately into the employment market,” he said. “Their post secondary or employment opportunity upon graduation is huge. These kids are much further advanced. They’re ready for that.”
Joe Herzing, a guidance counselor for the Sto-Rox School District, says students always considered taking on immense debt when thinking about college. But in recent years, the cost of higher education has “priced” many students out.
“They don’t want to take out loans, and I don’t blame them,” he said.
Mr. Herzing works in a school district with many low-income students. While some can attain scholarships and the maximum federal Pell grant, which totals $7,395 for 2023-2024, it’s not enough anymore.
“This system is intended for the state schools to be affordable for all students – they’re no longer affordable,” he said. “Because after financial aid is completed, they’re still falling about three or $4,000 short and that’s not covering any dorm furnishings and books yet.”
For students confronted with the reality that college may not be affordable, trade schools naturally become part of the conversation. Mr. Herzing says Sto-Rox has always encouraged students to consider this option, but he’s seen an increase of interest.
The push is also coming from the trades themselves as they look to recruit high schoolers to their programs.
Kimberly Rassau, executive director of the tuition-free Bidwell Training Center, says many of their students are mid-career and tend to come in with loans or job experience, but the center has seen more younger applicants.
She credits that to an evolving perspective on lessening societal pressure for students to go straight to college. That’s kept them from targeting high schoolers more in the past.
“It was just really difficult for us to get that high school audience because the conversation was so narrowly focused on going to a fouryear school, traditional university or community college,” she said. “I think there’s more of an appetite inside the high schools to invite us in, have conversations with students.”
The state, which boasts over 80 CTE centers with 17 in the southwest region, is also looking to leverage the benefits of CTE for high schoolers.
In his 2023-24 budget, Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed a $17.3 million increase in Career and Technical Education, which includes a $3.3 million increase to the CTE Equipment Grant and $5 million increase to expand CTE programs related to computer science and STEM. And as his first executive order, Mr. Shapiro eliminated a four-year college degree requirement for thousands of state jobs.
While the demand is on the rise, more trade schools aren’t necessarily popping up but they are expanding their programming, particularly in STEM fields like healthcare, engineering and technology, Penn State education professor Mark Threeton said.
“It’s where our economy is heading right now and with the job market, you’re going to have some trouble being marketable the way you once were,” he said.
But as someone with a background in both higher education and CTE, he says it doesn’t have to be a competition.
“I don’t think this is a battle of, you know, higher ed versus career and technical education,” he said. “I think both support one another. Not everybody needs a four year degree to be successful. Not everybody wants to pursue or is in a situation to pursue a four year degree or wanting to do that and so there’s a place for them to be successful in CTE or higher ed.”