I saw a report shared on LinkedIm from Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce (https://cew.georgetown.edu/), love them, and apologies to President Cabrera for hijacking his post (see https://lnkd.in/p/g-AZuE4p). Previously, I would be like – heck yeah. Get a degree because otherwise only 6% of the jobs will be available to you. I posted this not to critique the report nor Cabrera’s point because I’m on board, but I really want to know what our new argument should be because the old one isn’t working. I’ve tried. A lot. What am I talking about? Let me know share with you my post.
As I mentioned in the LinkedIn post, as a poverty affected, 1st gen student, my whole career has been to help others, like myself, be able to get a higher education and move beyond their circumstance. I believe education is the key. If you have the opportunity to go to college, you should go. You should also try to avoid student loans (thank you public loan forgiveness). Yet, more recently being in Milwaukee and my daughter attending Milwaukee Public Schools, I have questions that I never had before.
Recently, I got to be on the parent side of things as my daughter gradudates from high school. Wow, when did college get so expensive? I never thought that it would be a challenge for me to send my daughter to college, financially. I thought I made it. I have degees! However, the price of college has increased over 90% since I had my daughter 18 years ago. Wild. Yes, 90%.
To send her to an instate public school it is about $30-40k a year (UW, UMN)?out-of-state public school $60k (ASU)? Holy smokes. You start to realize, even with financial aid, some families will not be able to afford a public education. The average finanical aid package is under $20k. That is a huge gap for anyone, especially my daughter’s classmates in MPS where 80% of students are economically disadvantaged in a city where the income per capita is $30k.
Over the years, I have heard arguments, like many of us, against 4-year colleges, which makes me cringe and sad, but I am starting to realize that it is more complex in 2026. This reads a bit as if blue-collar, skilled-trades are a bad thing. In Milwaukee, we are a blue-collar town, even with a degree and a tech hub 😉 It says that only 6% of jobs will go to those without a college degree, yet we see other data and arguments.
The BLS put out this, “[o]verall employment in construction and extraction occupations [none listed require a degree] is projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations from 2024 to 2034. About 649k openings are projected each year, on average, in these occupations due to employment growth and the need to replace workers who leave the occupations permanently. The median annual wage for this group was $58,360 in May 2024, which was higher than the median annual wage for all occupations of $49,500.” They shared a lost of the fastest growest occupations and 25% of these occupation do not require a degree. See https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/ and https://www.bls.gov/ooh/fastest-growing.htm.
The DOL and Apprenticeship.gov say registered apprenticeship has grown 80-90% over the last 10 years. DOL is now targeting 1 mil active apprentices nationwide and announced $145 million in funding. They include tech, cybersecurity, AI too. We see state efforts as well.
I understand the politics and power, but the argument cannot be that there will be less jobs available, because the reality is, when the kids walk out of these doors, they are starting jobs at 40k, no loans. So, what’s our argument?