When it comes to picking a major in college, sometimes your child will feel overwhelmed. From picking a junior college or a university, which majors and minors and even what school they should attend, there are a lot of things to be thinking about. But there is one option that no one talks about enough: trade school.
Trade schools are where you can go to learn a technical skill for a specific job, such as computer science, business, car maintenance, electric technicians, hospitality and so much more. Plus, most trade schools have two-year programs to go through in order to receive a certification in the specific trade chosen.
Attending a trade school is often overlooked because most soon to be high school graduates have dreamt of attending a four-year university, along with their friends, enjoying college life and getting a degree. The downside to a university degree is that there is no guaranteed job after graduation. With a trade school, a job is almost always guaranteed because of the specific skill sets that a trade school offers. These skill sets are ones that will never go out of style; there will always be a need for a car mechanic when your car breaks down on the highway, a storm will always knock the power out somewhere and computers will continue to crash frequently with ever-changing code. All of these situations require a special person with special knowledge to help fix things that we break and that is where trade school comes in!
To help your child think about trade school, take them on a tour of your nearest location. Doing this can give you both the chance to see what classes are offered and the possibility to see work in progress during a school day. Also, discuss salaries of trade professions. Hourly rates for trade professions are typically higher than a salary job in other fields. And lastly, encourage your child just to keep an open mind to anything in any career area, not everyone needs a 4-year degree to earn a decent income.