I taught part time for a vo-tech college for years. From that, I know that while the kids get good offers right out of school, they often work in bad conditions--like roofers, welders, and plumbers.

Y'all remember Blazercheer? She got a B.S. in a health field over 20 years ago but about 5 years ago, wanted to go into cybertech. She picked up an A.S. in the field at the same vo-tech school where I taught and was almost immediately making 6 figures. She said she wouldn't be at her level, however, without the B.S. in a totally unrelated field.

This. The school where I work/attend is experiencing problems related to this ( and other things).

Being a roofer, welder or plumber is most definitely not "working in bad conditions." :rolleyes: There's nothing wrong with getting your hands dirty and these are some of the FEW jobs that are recession and AI proof.

I agree with you about there being nothing wrong with getting your hands dirty, but being a roofer is dangerous (working from heights and usually in terrible heat, at least here in the south). But for any skilled trade, people can make bank, and we need those people. Trade work can’t be outsourced overseas or done remotely. I would never discourage any young person with an interest in a trade from pursuing it. My nephew is a genius, and he has been doing carpentry work while he has been in high school. He is seriously considering pursuing carpentry instead of going to college. We’ve all been kind of shocked because of how well he does academically, but if it’s going to make him happy and not saddle him with student loan debt…go for it.

The guy my nephew dated throughout college is super smart as well. He just didn’t want to go to college right after HS. Maybe he will go someday? Idk.

Where I come from, everyone has done blue collar labor jobs all their lives. It just is normalized there. My dad was working for his union, setting up and breaking down shows at the Convention center up until he was in his 70s.
He was still working on cars, too. (Somehow, all of his mechanical genes missed me though :( )

He wanted us to go to college because he lost a lot in life when the industries started going overseas in the 80s. I think he saw it as bringing more job security.

Idk if it was this thread, but I had the weirdest dream I was back at community college last night lol…CC is doing good in this part of the state. Although not every county has one, many places are adding branches so that people can at least get some coursework locally. Here is a project completed by the late Rep Jeff Pyle (a great educator and human)

https://triblive.com/local/valley-ne...-in-ford-city/

The times sure have changed.

It used to be that you'd rack up some student loan debt, graduate, get a good paying job, and get out of debt relatively quickly, leaving you free and clear for homeownership and children if you want. Now, student loan debt is so crushing that it'll take folx forever to pay it off - and you can't get out of student loans by declaring bankruptcy. No wonder people are going the vo-tech route, or getting an associate's degree at their local community college and then transferring to a 4-year college as a junior, or getting their associate's degree and stopping there and getting a job.

This will be terrible for NPC sororities, as we cannot operate chapters at community colleges. Look at that drop at SSU!

My father was able to get through a Cornell loan debt in the early 90's (they still struggled but it seems like nothing compared to now.) and when he did the peace corps then he was able to get some deferment in his payments. We recently did converting what he paid back in the 80's to now and it was shocking. I luckily never needed to take a loan (I attended private unis) and I heard so many of my peers have fear in their loan situations. It has hampered a lot of people from taking usual steps in becoming middle class with buying a house/car and all that.

I did say in the NPC #s threads that yes many small unis (and chapters) will close over the comings years with people reevaluating the cost of a college degree and also realizing they can do 2 years at a CC and transfer to a state college for a low-ish rate. But that will bump up enrollment in some of those other small, liberal arts schools. At the end of the day, not everyone wants the big school environment, and many of these schools are working together to bring students in to complete their degrees without interruption and they will attempt to match whatever loan/scholarship program they had at their previous school. My own school built themselves as a transfer friendly place, and I was even able to complete my degree transferring in as a senior on time. But that's the current market.