Americans are losing faith in the value of college.
That was the headline of an article I read recently in New York Times Magazine. There were many different angles to it, but something that stood out to me in particular were the results of various polls cited in the article. In the early 2010s, public opinion polls largely showed a positive feeling about college. In one survey, 74% of young adults said a college education was “very important.”
That has since shifted. That same poll now has 41% of young adults saying a college education is “very important.” The trend is reflected in the number of students attending college as well. According to the article, in 2009, 70% of that year’s class of high school graduates went straight to college, the highest percentage ever. It stayed at that level for a while. As recently as 2016, 70% of high school graduates were still going straight to college. That number has now dipped to 62%.
A major factor is the burden of the cost of college. The article states that since 1992, the price has almost doubled for four-year private colleges and more than doubled for four-year public institutions, even after accounting for inflation. More students have had to use loans to cover those rising costs. In 2007, total student debt was at $500 billion. Today it stands at $1.6 trillion.
I lead with all this to make comment on the workforce issues in the trades, which I’ve written about in the past. The challenge of finding quality workers and reaching the younger generations is regularly talked about by companies in trades industries, like plumbing and drain cleaning. Often talked about alongside that is the public perception of such jobs as lesser “dirty” work with four-year college being the better career path.
But what these statistics tell me is that four-year college is no longer on a pedestal for people as the ideal pursuit following high school. More people are questioning its value and perhaps considering alternative options. That is basically the origin story for Levi Torres, owner of High 5 Plumbing in the Denver area, one of the companies featured in this month’s issue. Torres grew up around the industry, working for his father’s plumbing company as a teenager, so he had early exposure. Still, after high school he decided to attend college. Torres lasted one semester.
“I saw how much money I was paying to go to college compared to how much I could make as a plumber and realized that it would be much more beneficial to become a plumber,” Torres says.
He returned to working for his father, then another company, and eventually established High 5 Plumbing. Now he’s a successful entrepreneur.
There’s opportunity here for companies in the trades struggling to produce a reliable pipeline of potential employees. If you can find ways to get into high schools and show students the possibilities of a trades career, they are maybe more open to it than ever before. College and the financial burden it can bring isn’t as attractive. Today’s students are considering more options.
Enjoy this month’s issue.
