What Is a Trade School?
Should I Trade College for One?

I taught college for 25 years at a community college which started out during World War II as a vocational school (nowadays more often called a technical college or trade school) and still continues those types of programs. Although I taught in the college side (communication is a soft skill), I had many trade students, because one of my classes was required coursework. Because a large percentage of my family works in the trades, I had no preconceptions, but a lot of people do. So I thought that might be a good topic for education advice.

What Is a Trade School?

Vocational schools, a.k.a. trade or technical schools, offer education at the secondary or postsecondary level. They prepare students for specific careers that involve manual, mechanical, or technical skill, like carpentry, welding, construction, and masonry, but there are also programs like computer repair, cosmetology, culinary arts, paralegal, and radiology technician.

Many of the skills taught in trade schools are also taught through apprenticeships and in community colleges. While community colleges are primarily two-year, public institutions that grant associate degrees, trade schools offer programs of varied length, from several months to two years. They can be public, private, and for-profit or nonprofit.

The cost of tuition for trade schools vary by school and program. On average, a trade school education costs a total of $33,000. At some four-year colleges, that is the cost of a single year’s tuition. As a result, students completing trade school, on average, accumulate 70 percent less debt, according to The Simple Dollar.

Technical school students are equally eligible for federal financial aid as college students, provided that their chosen program runs longer than 15 weeks. For programs shorter than 15 weeks, federal loans are still available.

Why Trade School?

Trade schools can be a direct route to job stability. Every year, millions of high-school seniors apply to college but may not feel that a four-year degree is right for them. Even if they end up going to a traditional university and landing a stable job, they may find themselves in a career that isn’t fulfilling. In the long run, that’s just as important as the paycheck.

You may feel a desire for a vocation that deals in the concrete and material rather than the digital and abstract. You may not like being locked up in an office or need the variety of troubleshooting different malfunctions multiple times a day in order to determine and implement the solution. In Shop Class as Soulcraft, Matthew B. Crawford wrote, “Craftsmanship means dwelling on a task for a long time and going deeply into it, because you want to get it right.”

Entering a Career Faster

Traditional trades include professionals like electricians, auto mechanics, carpenters, and plumbers, but the list of skilled trades is much longer, including high-tech specialists like avionics technicians and wind turbine installers.

Technical schools also offer a shorter road to paychecks than most educational paths. Bachelor’s degrees are four-year programs that typically take longer than four years. The average time for full-time students is five years, due largely to switching majors. Thirty-three percent of students will switch their major once, 10 percent will switch their major multiple times. The average time for part-time students is six years.

Career Stability

Vocational jobs respond to real and constant needs. The results-driven, hands-on work of these positions. Many white-collar jobs, since the results are not as tangible, do not receive the same kind of praise and gratitude from those you serve. When working in marketing, of all the companies where I worked, I only had one employer who actually understood what I was doing. (He had been handling the company marketing himself — and was quite good — until the company got too big.) I can’t tell you how many times, when bad things happened at other companies, I was told, “All you do is spend money!” Once, that was while grabbing proofs for ads out of my filing cabinets and throwing them all over my office.

Studies show that general happiness is influenced more by job satisfaction than income. According to a 2024 study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group which surveyed over 110,000 people around the world, the no. 1 factor for employee happiness on the job is being appreciated for their work.

The top 10 factors are
1) Appreciation for your work
2) Good relationships with colleagues
3) Good work-life balance
4) Good relationships with superiors
5) Company's financial stability
6) Learning and career development
7) Job security
8) Attractive fixed salary
9) Interesting job content
10) Company values

I’ve said this more time than I can count in my life: if you don’t like your job, it doesn’t matter how much money you make — it’s not worth it. So the demand for trade skills keeps wages high, but that may not be the point. The real point might be the relief on a person’s face when you fix something essential to their lifestyle. As Crawford wrote, “We are basically dependent beings: one upon another, and each on a world that is of our making.”

Technical Schools vs. Traditional Colleges and Universities

Deciding between technical school and college really comes down to deciding what you want to do. Each path has merit. You’ll encounter many different career opportunities as you progress. In my own experience, since completing my bachelor’s degree, I have worked as a journalist, a graphic designer, in marketing and public relations, as a technical writer, a webmaster, a proposal writer, in information technology, as a college instructor, a marketing consultant, in company operations, in financial management and now in my dream job as a novelist.

For many professions, the college track is mandatory. For example, the majority of white-collar jobs require a bachelor’s degree. Some require a specific major, others require only that you have a degree (proving that you have the discipline to complete a degree) and also that they can assume you have a base knowledge. The education offered by a traditional four-year degree still has real upsides in the job market, but there are other things to consider.

Crawford wrote, “What is demanded is an all-purpose intelligence, the kind one is certified to have by admission to an elite university, not anything in particular that you might have learned along the way. You have to be ready to reinvent yourself at any time, like a good democratic Übermensch. And while in Calvin’s time the threat of damnation might have been dismissed by some as a mere superstition, with our winner-take-all economy the risk of damnation has acquired real teeth. There is a real chance that you may get stuck at the bottom.”

Individuals who hold a bachelor’s degree tend to make significantly more over their lifetimes than workers who did not graduate from college. Some work in trades is physically demanding and cannot be done for the same length of time. Finding success on the job market as a white-collar worker can also be tough, especially during economic downturns.

Technical Schools	vs.	Four-Year Colleges
• Specific training		• Broad education
• Hard skills		• Soft skills
• Generally lower total tuition		• Potential for student debt
• Begin earning a good salary sooner		• Higher lifetime earnings

In contrast, trade school can be a more streamlined and affordable option. Trade schools with strong industry ties can pave a smooth road to job placement. This type of education tends to build employment that is more recession-proof than many white-collar jobs. In my case, when working in marketing, when things got tough, if the company owner did not understand marketing, the first target for layoffs was the Marketing Department. The reality is, if things are tough, you need to increase your marketing, not cut it. (Remember my previous note about not understanding?)

Education decisions should include the projected outlook of your target career. Your initial education is just the starting point. You can continue to grow and redirect your career by developing new technical skills, engaging in continuing education, and continuous learning.

Is Vocational School Worth It?

Common wisdom states that you have to get a college degree if you want to make a good living. However, vocational training — whether at a trade school or through an apprenticeship — can lead to great career prospects.

High demand for trade workers can lead to good wages. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salaries for skilled trades are as follows:

• Carpenter	$48,330 per year
• Ironworker	$53,650 per year
• Plumber	$55,160 per year
• Electrician	$56,180 per year
• Home Inspector	$60,710 per year
• Dental Hygienist	$76,220 per year
• Elevator Mechanic	$84,990 per year
• Construction Manager	$95,260 per year

Many careers accessed through vocational training offer comfortable salaries. In terms of lifetime earnings, the average college grad still makes more, but that’s where continuing education comes in. Trade school can prepare you well for a skilled trade. States often sponsor paid apprenticeship programs that fulfill the same purpose as trade schools, but without the expense.

Soft Skills and Continued Education Are Essential

Even if you plan on entering a trade, you should develop soft skills that will give your career more versatility and opportunities for growth. Soft skills are abilities like communication, creativity, leadership, problem solving, and teamwork. Thus, where I taught, my Interpersonal and Organizational Communication course was required for many of the trade programs.

Students develop soft skills while completing a college curriculum, and these skills are part of why they have higher-paying careers. However, any educational environment can help hone soft skills like communication.

Trade school offers contact with industry professionals who can teach you about in-demand skills in your industry. You can also diversify your resume by completing free online courses to learn industry-adjacent skills. Last, there is no reason why, after completing trade school, you could not formally return to school, like through employer-paid tuition plans.

One of the biggest influences on the future job market is technology, which can change drastically in just a few years. Because the average working career spans four decades, it is important to develop soft skills that can help you adapt.

Americans stay at one job for an average of 4.2 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Today, successful careers often leap between specializations and sectors.

As Crawford wrote, in the end, it comes down to “the satisfactions of manifesting oneself concretely in the world through manual competence have been known to make a man quiet and easy. They seem to relieve him of the felt need to offer chattering interpretations of himself to vindicate his worth. He can simply point: the building stands, the car now runs, the lights are on.”

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