Gen Z is increasingly turning to trade schools to future-proof their careers against A.I. — but winning over parents and peers isn’t always easy.
At the edge of a parking lot in the Arkansas Delta, 23-year-old LaDonna Glass slipped off her work boots and into a pair of rainbow Crocs. She had just finished a shift as an electrician apprentice at a veterinary school, snaking conduits between electrical boxes and installing outlets in an operating room large enough for a horse. It was satisfying, hands-on work — the kind she once feared would disappoint her parents and teachers.
“I was pretty brainy in high school, so everybody expected more out of me,” Glass said. “I felt like if I didn’t go to college, I would have been a failure.”
Bubbly and curious, with a love for fantasy books, late-night workouts, and gummy-bear lemonade, Glass graduated from high school in 2021 and headed straight to Mississippi State University, aiming to become a youth therapist. But the long road and soaring costs soon made her question the investment. Her older brother had earned an accounting degree from the same school only to end up driving trucks.
“The cost of living is making people realize we don’t have four years to sit around and just go to school,” she said.
Glass is part of a growing wave of Gen Zers rethinking the value of a traditional college degree. Having watched tuition rise steadily and witnessed a tough early-career job market further shaken by artificial intelligence, many are choosing skilled trades — welding, plumbing, electrical work, and construction — as a more pragmatic path.
After all, A.I. can draft an email, but it can’t install a sink or solder a ball valve.
While more than 60% of high school graduates still head to college, trade school enrollment is climbing. The number of students at public two-year vocational programs grew nearly 20% from 2020 to 2025, according to National Student Clearinghouse data. Apprenticeships and private trade schools have also seen increases.
Yet these young tradespeople often face pushback from family, counselors, and friends — the well-meaning “we just want what’s best for you” variety. By opting for the trades, they’re challenging deep-seated perceptions that blue-collar work is inferior to white-collar careers.
Glass left college after one year. After a brief stint at Jersey Mike’s Subs, she joined a four-year apprenticeship with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. She now earns $21 an hour while taking free classes toward her electrician license. Union electricians earn close to $90,000 on average annually.
“I’m watching things grow from the ground up,” she said proudly.
Turning Off the College Autopilot
Across the country, young people are making similar choices. A 19-year-old welds pipes for yogurt transport in a Utah dairy plant. A 21-year-old swaps tires on rally cars in Washington. A 27-year-old in Idaho is mastering feather razors and blending shears in barber school.
Many describe the same experience: guidance counselors and relatives pushing college as the only respectable option, even as they watched friends and siblings with degrees struggle to find relevant work. They’ve also seen A.I. creeping into classrooms and heard warnings about its impact on jobs — though the timeline and solutions remained vague.
For some, trade school is a proactive move in an uncertain economy. For others, it’s another way for a generation that rejects the status quo to chart its own course.
Logan Bangert, 18, once dreamed of playing football at Penn State. Accepted to the school, he balked at the $50,000+ annual out-of-state cost. At a career fair, he discovered Universal Technical Institute’s wind turbine technician program. The seven-month course cost around $21,000 (partially covered by a state grant). He graduated in March and now earns $80,000–$90,000 in Houston repairing turbine blades.
“A lot of people are scared of their jobs getting taken away by a robot and by artificial intelligence,” Bangert said. For now, his physically demanding role feels secure.
**Money is a major driver.** The average sticker price for a four-year degree has nearly doubled in three decades, often exceeding $200,000 for private schools. Trade programs, by contrast, frequently cost under $25,000 total, with growing scholarships, Pell Grant eligibility, and industry incentives making them even more accessible.
A bachelor’s degree still boosts long-term earnings — median income is 1.8 times higher than for high school graduates alone. But Jerome Grant, CEO of Universal Technical Institute, notes that vocational programs serve students who might otherwise end up in lower-wage service jobs.
“We’re trying to get them proud to say ‘My kid’s a welder’ at a cocktail party,” Grant said.
What Will My Girlfriend Think?
Ryan Shikhman, 21, crawls through attics on Staten Island, wrestling flexible ducts into place as an HVAC technician. His parents both have college degrees — his mom is a physician assistant, his dad an accountant — and high school counselors pushed the four-year path. Family members suggested business or finance.
But after shadowing an HVAC tech, Shikhman chose a one-year program at Eastwick College. His girlfriend at the time even asked him not to tell her parents he was going to trade school.
His colleague Eddie Fawakhrji, 25, encountered similar attitudes. “Back in the day, parents would be like, all right, you’re either going to go to college, or you’re a loser,” he said. “I think kids are much more open-minded now.”
A 2025 Jobber report found that 71% of Gen Z see more stigma attached to vocational school than college, while only 7% of their parents prefer the trades route. Stereotypes of plumbers with sagging pants or grease-covered mechanics persist in popular culture.
Yet the stigma is creating real problems. A nonprofit called Bring Back the Trades projects that 1.4 million trade jobs could go unfilled by 2030 due to retirements and infrastructure needs.
Shikhman has become a vocal advocate, posting on TikTok and Instagram under “Trades Over College.” One video shows him welding: “POV: AI can’t replace HVAC.”
His parents came around once they saw his success. He now runs his own HVAC business and earns over $100,000 a year. He’s transparent about the physical toll — 100+ degree workspaces, hauling heavy units upstairs — but values the good pay and variety of skills.
Women and people of color, long underrepresented in the trades, sometimes face extra hurdles. Glass is often the only Black woman on her job site and has dealt with disparaging comments from older workers. Alondra Pantaleon, 20, had to show her parents videos of female welders to ease their concerns that it was “a man’s job.” Now set to graduate, she’s eyeing welding jobs paying over $25 an hour — and her younger brother plans to follow her into trade school.
By choosing the trades, these young workers are not only securing stable, well-paying careers — they’re helping shift outdated perceptions. In an era of economic uncertainty and rapid technological change, they’re proving that success doesn’t follow a single script. Sometimes, the best path isn’t the one everyone expects.