Julissa Arce, a freshman pre-medicine major, was already back and on a mission. She was headed to a meeting with the associate dean of student life. It was surprisingly warm and sunny for March in Illinois. The weather worked as the only thing keeping her spirits up from the news she had just received.
Her parents wanted to move to a bigger house in a new town. Buying a home on top of paying tuition would be difficult for her family. She knew they could probably find a way to make ends meet, but over Easter Break she suggested that she come back home for awhile. With about two months left of her freshman year, Julissa dropped out of Augustana College.
Only 56 percent of college students obtain degrees in four-year programs within six years, according to a study by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Julissa, 18, is just one of many Americans to push pause on higher education due to financial reasons.
Although graduation rates have fluctuated with each passing academic year, enrollment rates are diminishing. College enrollment in the U.S. has been declining about 1.5 percent each year, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. More high school graduates are choosing to join the workforce rather than going to a university.
When Josh Crider, now 20, was a sophomore at South Adams High School, he became an intern at a local Polaris dealership. He spent most days washing four-wheelers, and worked on a farm on the side. It was manual labor. In his first year of farming, he stacked a load of straw wrong, causing it to fall over. Josh learned from his mistakes on the job. This is when he realized he preferred learning skills hands-on rather than taking notes in a lecture hall. He learned a lot about what he wanted for his future. He decided that he didn’t want to go to college.
Josh graduated high school in 2015 and now works at Hi-Way Hatchery in his hometown of Berne, Indiana. He prepares young female chickens to lay healthy eggs by cutting their beaks and giving them shots. On certain days, Josh and his co-workers collect eggs. He estimates that Hi-Way Hatchery is the home to around one million chickens, so he is constantly working on taking care of the young chickens and moving them from house to house.
The median yearly earnings are $28,000 for an American without a bachelor’s degree. Currently, Josh makes about $35,000 a year at Hi-Way Hatchery. Still, many jobs require some sort of schooling.
When she was in middle school, Ashley Trondson, now 18, spent her free time watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. She stumbled upon them accidentally, but she was immediately in awe of the talent and skill required to change somebody’s appearance. This was the birth of her dream to become a makeup artist. Meanwhile, her peers were beginning to think about their future universities.
Dr. Richard Petts, an associate professor of sociology, said that there is a stigma against trade workers in our society. Although they might make enough money to be in the upper third of the nation’s income, trade workers are viewed by society as “lesser than.”
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