For many high school graduates, a bachelor’s degree is not the only — or even best — track to a rewarding career. Some of the occupations with the strongest prospects these days are “middle-skill” jobs, requiring more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year degree.
They include such traditional choices as veterinary and medical technicians, electricians and realtors as well as many of the hottest in tech: web developers, IT systems administrators and advanced manufacturing employees.
They make up more than half of all jobs today and will account for 48 percent of openings between 2014 and 2024, according to the National Skills Coalition, a research and advocacy group focused on workforce development. NSC research shows that only 43 percent of workers are trained at a middle-skill level, so employers struggle to fill positions.
[Consider these alternatives to a four-year degree.]
The ticket into these fields is an associate degree, a vocational certificate or another professional credential. An aircraft mechanic, for instance, requires certification from a technical school and can expect to earn about $60,000. A certificate from a six- to 28-week coding boot camp, which could run $9,000 to $21,000, could land you a web developer job at around $66,000.
Many middle-skill jobs rely on partnerships between employers and educators. A number of small and large companies — General Electric, Toyota and CVS Health, among them — offer apprenticeships, employing students full time as they apply concepts they are learning in class, typically at a community college, while earning a salary and benefits.
Students who sign on for Newport News Shipbuilding’s Apprentice School in Virginia, which works with the Tidewater Community College Apprenticeship Institute, are earning around $55,000 by the end of the program, for example, says the institute’s director, Todd Estes.
[Find out how trade schools and community colleges can prepare students for careers.]
On average, those with a bachelor’s earn more than those with an associate degree. But nearly 30 percent of workers with the two-year credential outearn people with a bachelor’s.
Avoiding the debt load of the typical four-year grad — more than $30,000 — and starting to work earlier is a consideration, too. In an “earn while you learn” apprenticeship, you could even graduate with money in the bank.
And remember, you can always build on your training. Katie Spiker, senior federal policy analyst at the NSC, says that a two-year degree or other credential can be “a good way to test the waters in an industry” before you commit to more study.
This story is excerpted from the U.S. News “Best Colleges 2018” guidebook, which features in-depth articles, rankings and data.
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Achieve a Rewarding Career Without a Bachelor’s Degree originally appeared on usnews.com
