Is the better and faster path to entrepreneurship a focus on certifications and perhaps acquiring skills in certain trades that used to be looked down upon but are potentially rising again? Recent articles and programs seem to say so. A Wall Street Journal article, How Gen Z Is Becoming the Toolbelt Generation, is an interesting take on the frustration of Gen Z and what they might be considering as a path to entrepreneurship. Instead of acquiring deep college debt, an uncertain corporate future and the lack of control or decision making in their career, they are opting to acquire skills and perhaps creating the next generation of small businesses. One thing is certain, college enrollment has been on a downtrend over the past several years.
An article in the NY Times not only shared data on declining college enrollment but also raised the question: Is College Worth It? To quite a few college age young adults in the USA, apparently not. According to Best Colleges, their research shows college enrollment has been declining since 2010. In the past decade, total college enrollment has dropped by about 1.95 million students, or by about 10% to around 17 million students in the spring of 2023. Why?
It could be a myriad of reasons. It seems quite a few young people are questioning the value of their education based on the high cost of education versus its relevancy. Or perhaps, it’s because Fortune 500 companies including Google, IBM, and Apple, have eschewed their longstanding degree requirements. It shows. In November 2022, just 41% of U.S.-based job postings required a bachelor’s degree, per an analysis from think tank Burning Glass Institute.
Perhaps, it’s because other options are rising faster in recent years. With certifications and trade schools, you can get a good job, perhaps even create a small company instead of going to college. One such option offering a different path is the Mike Rowe Works Foundation.
More than being just an apprentice on the TV series Dirty Jobs, Mike Rowe created the mikeroweWORKS Foundation to provide people a path to a successful trade in lieu of accumulating college debt. Student loan debt is the second highest consumer debt category in the United States with more than 44 million borrowers who collectively owe more than $1.5 trillion. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more than 7 million jobs available across the country, the majority of which don’t require a four-year degree.
While certifications and trade school might now be for everyone, they provide a different path to potential entrepreneurship through the creation of a small business. Let’s look at the potential benefits of certifications and trade schools.
– First, these condensed programs allow students to enter the job market sooner, which means they start earning money and building experience faster as well.
– Focused programs also mean less time commitment, which makes enrolling to pursue an education less daunting.
– Shorter certification and trade school programs often mean less paid in tuition, even when rates are comparable. With less time spent in school, most students ultimately pay lower school-related costs.
– College can also be challenging, and some students will find it exhausting. According to EducationData, more than 40% of undergraduates drop out of college, and 30% of those students drop out before sophomore year.
– Small businesses are the heart and soul of entrepreneurship and these programs will create the next generation of small businesses in the USA. Businesses from solar panel installation to ecommerce agencies to networking technology companies.
For Gen Z, the American dream may be gone or out of reach. For decades, young people have been told that the only way to be successful is to get a bachelor’s degree, find an entry-level job, and climb the company ladder. Yet there are often large gaps between the broad academic knowledge that most four-year programs provide and the job-specific skills and know-how employers are looking for. This means that a college degree on its own doesn’t necessarily qualify graduates for the jobs they want. If Gen Z wants to live meaningful lives, they may have to forge their own paths which may include not going to college and gaining skills more rapidly to start small businesses more quickly and become the next generation of entrepreneurs.
