By: Mike Saunders
When I was 19 years old, I bought a house. While many of my friends were going off to college or joining the military, I joined the workforce. After High School I was directionless. I just assumed that I would be going to college. That seemed to be the safest way to guarantee myself a chance to make a good living. After all, my Guidance Counselor was supposed to know what was best for me, right? My grade point average wasn’t great, so my prospects were limited to local and community college, and since I didn’t have the money to go to UNM, I went to TVI (Which is what CNM was called before it was CNM). As I looked through the course catalog, I couldn’t find a single subject that interested me. I eventually settled on environmental protection technologies, but I washed out within the first semester. The idea of running an emissions testing booth didn’t appeal to me. I eventually fell back on what work I could find. I had experience working summers with my uncle as a Groundman in his tree trimming business, so that’s where I went. Tree work was hard. Rain, shine, hot, cold, we were outside working. But that’s how it is when you’re young and your body still works. You might be saying, “Nice story. What’s your point?”
If you ask the internet, it will tell you that a person with a bachelor’s degree will earn up to 1.3 million dollars more over their lifetime than a person with just a high school diploma. Colleges love that statistic. They especially love parading it around in recruitment videos and literature. But there’s a dark secret that nobody in academia likes to talk about. When you include student loans (and the interest paid on student loans) and then compare that with the lifetime earnings of a person with a specialty trade certificate instead of a bachelor’s degree, the earning gap all but evaporates. The value of “OJT” or “On-the-Job-Training” cannot be overstated. Take Tree Trimming for instance. By my second year as a Tree Trimmer Trainee, I had already become a Journeyman, I was making Union-scale pay, and I already had a few certifications that I could take to another employer. It was at this point that I took the savings I had for college and used it as a down payment on a house.
I have worked in the trades my whole life. From tree trimming to general building maintenance, then from maintenance to a specialization in HVAC. Instead of going to college, I worked at a college. I got tuition benefits, access to skills training, and a state pension, something almost unheard of today. I retired from UNM with a lifetime pension at the age of 47. I have friends my age who are still paying off student loans. Some of them got their degree and then never found work in their field of study. I’m not saying they should have skipped college and gone into the trades. These jobs aren’t for everyone. They tend to be physically strenuous, they expose you to hazardous environments, and they often force you to work strange hours, including weekends and holidays. But if you have good physical health and plenty of free time, here are some real-world numbers to consider.
- HVAC, Electrician, Plumber: $30-$40k
- Welding Apprentice: $30-$40k
- Diesel mechanic: $40-$45k
- Construction Framer: $38-$52k
- Elevator Installer: $40k-$60k
- Irrigation Installer: $35-$40k
Keep in mind that these are starting salaries. Most of these occupations will offer a path to training, certifications, and a significant raise within the first two years of employment. Senior techs in these fields and Supervisors can earn upwards of $100k/ year. Consider that these employers often pay their employees to go to training. Courses that can cost thousands of dollars may be offered to employees who are willing to improve their skills. All while earning a steady paycheck.
I’m not here to denigrate the value of a college education. If you are one of the lucky individuals who knows exactly what they want to do for a living and college is your path to that, great! Follow your passion. If you are interested in STEM, please go to college. We need you more than ever. But if you are looking at college because you think it’s what you’re “supposed” to do, maybe check out the trades instead. There’s a good chance that even after you get your degree, you’ll wind up in the trades anyway. Who knows? You may find a passion you didn’t know you had.
