鈥淭hen, if I want to go to college, I can do it later.鈥�

Buffington is representative of a growing number of young people, especially , who are eschewing a college degree for alternatives, such as apprenticeships, entrepreneurship, and microcredentialing. While overall college enrollment numbers have roughly rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, surveys indicate that more of today鈥檚 high schoolers are valuing on-the-job training over a traditional four-year college degree. Polls also show that Americans overall have soured on higher education in recent years, with only 36% saying in a recent that they have a 鈥済reat deal/quite a lot鈥� of confidence in the sector, compared to 57% in 2015. 

Connor Boyack isn鈥檛 surprised. He is the new president of , a decade-old apprenticeship preparation and placement program that his free-market organization, the Libertas Network, acquired last month. Boyack believes the future of postsecondary pathways lies in creating more opportunities for teenagers and young adults to explore their interests and gain career-related skills and knowledge outside of a conventional college classroom. Boyack鈥檚 2019 book, Skipping College (to which I was a contributor), offered strategies and suggestions for finding personal satisfaction and career fulfillment without higher education. 鈥淪ince then, the problem has worsened,鈥� Boyack told me, explaining that mounting debt, changing economic realities, and higher education鈥檚 perceived progressive ideological leanings is prompting more young people to forgo a college diploma. 

鈥淭here have never been more reasons and more opportunities to build a successful life without spending the time, money, and mental energy pursuing that piece of paper,鈥� Boyack said.

Buffington says both he and his friends are seizing these opportunities to gain on-the-job work experience immediately after high school by reaching out to local business owners, who have been enthusiastic about hiring them. They start with a part-time apprenticeship role and join the company full-time after high school graduation. Mike Harris, who owns Cardigan Mechanical where Buffington works, says there are ample opportunities for young people to gain job skills and explore different career paths through apprenticeships. 鈥淚 would love to hire more ambitious apprentices like Chase,鈥� said Harris, who has an engineering degree from Vanderbilt University but says he wishes he had discovered the trades earlier on in his career. 鈥淐ollege is one path but there are so many more options. I think kids today see that and are being more thoughtful about what they want their life and work to look like.鈥� He also encourages parents to support their children in considering the trades and related occupations.

In her new book, , Kathleen deLaski looks more closely at the college alternatives currently available and why more students are interested in them. She says debt is the biggest reason, but young people are also more eager for practical, 鈥渏ust-in-time-learning鈥� options connected more closely with career possibilities. 

A senior advisor to the Project on Workforce at Harvard University, and an adjunct professor at George Mason University, deLaski is a strong proponent of higher education, as well as high-quality alternatives. She urges colleges and universities to explore creative ways to be more responsive to the needs and interests of students. 鈥淪ome colleges are creating 鈥榤icropathways鈥� that provide a six month fast track to professional employment,鈥� said deLaski, adding that workplaces also need to adapt. 鈥淓mployers beyond the trades need to consider apprenticeship and they need to provide certifications in a broader number of fields so that learners can demonstrate skills mastery without a degree.鈥�

As colleges and universities, as well as employers, respond to the changing preferences of a young workforce, a college degree can become one of many meaningful options to career success and individual satisfaction. Buffington, whose parents both have Bachelor鈥檚 degrees, holds open the possibility of going to college in the future if he thinks it is necessary. 

For now, though, he says he loves his apprenticeship work and hopes more people his age will research the wide range of pathways to adulthood, including but not limited to college. 鈥淚 would say if you’re confused or pondering what you want to do, the trades are a great thing that you can try out,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s risk- and pretty much money-free, and you can very easily start working with a company and learn a skill. You can find out if you do or don’t like it, and then make a further decision.鈥�

CRPE鈥檚 in-depth interviews with students and educators across six high schools in New England yielded a resounding message: the primary purpose of high school is not to prepare every student for college. 

Instead, parents and students in wide-ranging circumstances describe happiness, fulfillment, and a 鈥済ood life鈥� as their priorities. 鈥淚 just hope that she鈥檚 happy, [that she finds] something that she enjoys doing and that she can just find her place,鈥� said a parent of a student in credit recovery. A parent of a straight-A student taking multiple AP courses said, 鈥淚 want her to just pursue whatever makes her happy, honestly.鈥� A rural student said, 鈥淗ow I measure success isn鈥檛 exactly in scores or numbers. It鈥檚 more of, do I enjoy where I鈥檓 at in life, and is this where I saw myself going, and where can I go from here?鈥�

Underneath these desires hum a host of economic and social pressures. 鈥淪uccess would mean for me that I am not living a paycheck-to-paycheck life, or I鈥檓 not struggling to provide for me and the others around me,鈥� said one student. A parent added, 鈥淗onestly, I think it鈥檚 really hard for kids to settle on what they want to do right out of high school right now, given the state of our environment and our world and everything that鈥檚 happening.鈥�

What leads to happiness and stability? Some students have told us about college plans, convinced that college is the path to 鈥渂eing my best self and earning my own money and doing a job that I enjoy.鈥� But others aren鈥檛 so convinced that college will lead to success on their own terms. The reasons are varied: young people don鈥檛 want to do more school; they鈥檇 prefer to avoid high-stakes tests and applications; they鈥檙e concerned about finances; or, they would simply prefer to start earning money in a job they know rather than make a big bet on future opportunities they can鈥檛 access yet.

Administrators in our study are also noticing a trend away from college as the agreed-upon best path out of high school. 鈥淎t one point, people defined success by college,鈥� said an assistant superintendent. 鈥淎nd I think that people have come to realize now that that鈥檚 not the ultimate measure of success.鈥� 

Letting go of 鈥榗ollege for all鈥� 鈥�

Our study鈥檚 findings aren鈥檛 an anomaly. Since the pandemic, Americans as a whole have college prep as a key function for high schools. 

In many ways, this shift is a good thing. Present and future workforce needs are changing rapidly, demanding continuous waves of learning. Meanwhile, college graduates even now aren鈥檛 reliably showing proficiency in skills that employers value. CRPE and others have argued for years that the old 鈥�4+4鈥� equation鈥攆our years of high school and four years of college鈥攊s increasingly outdated. That鈥檚 especially true when for a four year degree top $35,000 and student debt is crushing across income levels, with few solutions in sight. Over the past decade, Gallup surveys that three in four Americans do not believe college is affordable for everyone who needs it.

鈥� Without exacerbating inequities

The challenge for high schools is how to make the shift beyond college for all without reverting back to fundamentally inequitable patterns. While historically underrepresented groups have made notable gains in and over the past decades, disparities persist along the lines of race and income. Those inequalities are cause for concern because evidence still that college can be a powerful engine of economic mobility. Students from low-income and high-income families who attend the same college, especially selective colleges, end up having similar earnings in adulthood. But students from families in the top 1% of income distribution are 77 times more likely to attend elite colleges than students from the poorest families. Taking into account persistent racial wealth gaps, this means that , and learners face multiple structural barriers to economic mobility.

The push for K-12 schools to prepare all students to enroll in a four-year university represented a laudable effort to address this staggering inequality, but the problem hasn鈥檛 been solved. In 2022, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian Americans all college prep as a much higher priority for high schools than White Americans did. In our study, one teacher from a Title I high school said, 鈥淚 worry for every single student that leaves us, that they鈥檒l have the tools to make a real life for themselves, with choices.鈥� Could leaving 鈥渃ollege for all鈥� behind mean giving up on a commitment to equity? 

The way through this conundrum is to reject the between going to college or not. If the options are either 鈥渃ollege鈥� or 鈥渘o college,鈥� then inevitably only some students鈥攎ainly those already advantaged鈥攚ill get support toward a college degree. But if the options include many paths to family-sustaining careers, with further education and credentials at multiple points on each path, then many choices can be good choices. 

High schools that internalize this mantra won鈥檛 be any less committed to college readiness for all students, and they won鈥檛 divide their students between kids who are college-bound and others who prefer to 鈥渨ork with their hands.鈥� Instead, they鈥檒l help every young person be ready for the adult world of work, aware of the trade-offs of choices they make, and academically prepared for higher education鈥攚hen they choose it or need it.

What high schools are learning

No school we鈥檝e studied has fully solved how to move beyond the traditional mindset while still avoiding the harm of low expectations, especially for historically underserved students. But some schools are approaching it in deliberate, thoughtful ways from which that others can learn.

At Nokomis Regional High School in rural Maine, educators believe that a wide range of college and non-degree options requires students to develop self-knowledge and articulate their own personal life values. Nokomis starting in ninth grade and develop a concrete plan by senior year. A critical new step is an interdisciplinary course called 鈥淭he Good Life,鈥� which helps, according to one student, to define 鈥測our version of the good life and how are you going to achieve it.鈥� She also noted that comparing visions can help students expand their thinking about options. At Nokomis, as well as several other schools in our study, educators describe success as a viable postsecondary plan for every student, whether or not four-year college is part of it.

KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate in Massachusetts was founded with the KIPP network鈥檚 commitment to guarantee college access and success for underrepresented communities, especially students of color. The school has long focused on college prep courses, robust college counseling for every student, and for students through their college years. But now, administrators are listening to students who don鈥檛 yet feel ready to commit to college, and others who have dreams of entrepreneurship, beauty school, performance arts, and beyond. The school is expanding its own postsecondary counseling services to support a wider range of options, while staying committed to rigorous academic preparation so every student is at least college ready, if not college-going.

The high school every student deserves

In these and other high schools across the country, the work ahead will be difficult. High schools have proven remarkably resistant to change, and past efforts to transform them have seen limited results at best. 

Most critically, schools will need to maintain a laser focus on setting and maintaining high expectations for every student, even if the endgame for those expectations鈥攖raditionally, a bachelor鈥檚 degree鈥攊s shifting. Students who don鈥檛 choose college right away cannot be given an 鈥渆asier鈥� high school experience; they need a challenging one that maximizes their potential. 

Doing this well means listening seriously to families about their goals and priorities, not telling them what鈥檚 best. It also means exposing students to a far more diverse range of education, training, and work opportunities. Every student will need information and adult mentors to help them learn about their options, think through the trade-offs, and make an informed decision. They鈥檒l also need relationships with a diverse range of adults to gain a foothold in their careers. Schools can鈥檛 do this alone: they will need help from employers and community partners. They also need their states to redesign policies on credit and seat time, since existing policies allow precious little flexibility for learning through internships and outside of school walls.

Skeptics who are hesitant to let go of the college-focused reform agenda need only think about the vibrant individuality of young people in their lives. In our study, one academically ambitious student dreams of being an opera singer, another student with a history of truancy aims to be a judge, and a third from a family of educators just wants to start working. They need their high schools to take them seriously. They each deserve an education that helps them to set and pursue goals that matter to them鈥攁nd to adjust course when their interests or circumstances change.

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