Sam Wren didn’t even consider going to college.
The 18-year-old from Utah said the decision was a no-brainer when he compared the nearly $90,000 cost of a four-year degree at Utah State University — his mother’s alma mater— against a two-year trade school program for under $10,000.
“It's such an expensive commitment to make,” said Wren, who will enroll in a trade school in the fall. “I don't want to be somebody who's in debt right out of the gates just trying to start a career.”
High schoolers and their parents are increasingly questioning whether a traditional four-year college education is the right financial decision, with rising costs often resulting in crippling student-loan debt.
In a recent poll by Gallup, 46% of parents said they would prefer their child pursue something other than a bachelor’s degree, and more than one-third cited finances as an obstacle. Meanwhile, just 56% of adults under age 30 who went to college said the benefits of their education outweighed the costs, according to a Federal Reserve study.
This growing disillusionment is showing up in enrollment data. The number of students registered in undergraduate programs plummeted during the pandemic and continues to fall, defying expectations for a rebound as in-person learning resumed. There were more than 662,000 fewer students registered in spring 2022, a 4.7% drop from the year prior, according to the National Student Clearinghouse.
To be sure, college is still worth it for families that are able to help their kids pay for their education. Overall, a bachelor’s degree increases a person’s lifetime earnings by 75% compared to someone who only obtained a high school diploma, according to research from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
A college education also typically increases a graduate’s job options. However, that’s beginning to change in the tightest labor market in decades. Many sectors are opting to relax or scrap occupational licensing and college-degree requirements altogether, and jobs that don’t require a degree have seen wages jump as employers battle for workers.
E.C. Crippen, a 38-year-old hairdresser in Tennessee, believes that opting for a professional license over a bachelor's degree was one of the best decisions he made. After dropping out of a state university more than a decade ago, Crippen spent about $10,000 to enroll in a 10-month program at the Tennessee School of Beauty in Knoxville. Now, he rakes in $120,000 a year— an annual salary that is comparable to or even higher than what people his age with a bachelor’s degree typically earn.
“I definitely feel like I have received tenfold what I put into my education,” Crippen said. “And I have a job that I love.”