American students ditch college for trade school as enrollment rises 20% since 2020

American colleges are facing major enrollment declines as more and more young people are turning to the trades to earn a living. The trend has been driven by high earning potential, lower educational costs, and younger people looking to "AI-proof" their careers going into the future.

Over the next 15 years, the enrollment rates in traditional higher education are set to decline by 15 percent, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education has predicted. Some of that has to do with falling birth rates, as fewer Americans will be turning 18 in the coming years. Some have decided to go into the trades as the costs of higher education have increased more and more over the last several decades.

“People always ask me, ‘Should I go to barber school?’ And I always tell them to go for it. It’s the best career decision I ever made,” barber Benjamin Davis of Los Angeles said, per the New York Post. He said that he is able to have a steady job at the barbershop he works at and can find work anywhere. For college-educated students, however, the story is a little more difficult to find work.

Recent college graduates have been facing underemployment and unemployment in the past few years after it rebounded with the decline of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time that higher education is on the decline, enrollment in trade schools has increased by 20 percent since 2020, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Hair salon manager Cyntheia Moreno, 50, told reporters that the students she has are attracted to the industry because it is straightforward and steady without the stress of college. Moreno's son majored in communications, which is a field that has a 52 percent underemployment rate. However, he ended up managing a grocery store, she told The Post.

"If you go down to your local Aldi and they offer you 20 dollars an hour plus benefits, or you can get a certificate in a high-paying trade and find a job, all of a sudden the idea of spending four years in college becomes less attractive for some students who are on the fence," said Dr. Nathan Grawe, Professor of Economics at Carleton College.