With student loan debt surpassing $1.7 trillion, more Americans are questioning whether a four-year college degree is the only route to success. In fields like cosmetology and practical nursing, some are discovering a faster, more affordable path to financial stability, reshaping traditional notions of social mobility.
After graduating with a marketing degree, Katherine Millar of York, Pennsylvania, said she struggled to find opportunities aligned with her career goals despite completing an unpaid internship. Frustrated by the lack of prospects in her field, the 25-year-old pivoted to cosmetology school. Less than a year later, she was working in a salon and earning more than she had anticipated in her previous line of work.
“As soon as I got out of school, I started working as an entry-level stylist,” Millar said. “I’m already making more money than I would have in marketing.”
At her salon, she earns 50 percent commission on all services and keeps 100 percent of her tips. While building a “full book” of around 800 clients remains a long-term goal, Millar noted that “even part-time stylists can earn six figures.”
She also said she views cosmetology as a springboard to entrepreneurship: “I looked around and thought, if I ever wanted to be entrepreneurial and start my own business, this would be the type of environment I’d want to work in.”
In Florida, Sherita Simmons discovered a path for rapid career advancement. In her mid-30s, she enrolled in Cape Coral Technical College’s Practical Nursing program in 2022, where scholarships covered nearly all her expenses.
“They opened a lot of doors for me to get scholarships to pay for the school,” Simmons said. “I didn’t pay out of pocket for anything.”
After completing the program and passing her state exam in 2023, Simmons landed a nursing job paying $27.50 an hour. In just 18 months, she was earning $31, with some per-diem shifts offering $43.
“I can support my kids, pay rent, and have money left over,” she said. “Now I’m enrolled in an LPN-to-RN bridge program that costs $7,000, and scholarships cover most of that, too. No debt.”
Stories like Millar’s and Simmons’s show how trade and vocational programs, often completed in just one or two years, can lead to stable careers without the burden of overwhelming student debt. Graduates typically begin earning sooner, keep more of their incomes, and gain an early edge in building financial security.
Despite the promising data, trade careers still face cultural stigma, and are often seen as a fallback for those who “aren’t college material.” David Michael Phelps, president of Harmel Academy of the Trades in Michigan, said he sees this as a misunderstanding of hands-on professions:
“People look at the question of, ‘What do young people do after high school?’ and tend to think along a certain set of assumptions that we’ve been playing with for two or three generations now. There seems to be this game—if you go off and you get credentialed in a certain way by a certain type of institution, say college, then that provides a certain amount of freedom. But all that is predicated on the assumption that it gives you competence. I think so few people have questioned whether that’s actually true.”
Phelps said that trades are “not simply about competence,” but rather about placing people “in touch with reality in such a way that’s more undeniable.” While these careers offer “market opportunity,” “economic mobility,” and “freedom,” Phelps said he believes that their deeper value lies in human formation.
At the same time, some worry that automation could threaten future jobs. Brent Orrell, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said that physical trades may hold a crucial advantage:
“I don’t think anything is future-proof,” Orrell said. “But plumbers, electricians, and other hands-on fields are much harder to automate than white-collar work. They may be more resilient in the face of AI.”
Yet for many like Katherine Millar and Sherita Simmons, the benefits of skill-based training outweigh long-standing stigmas or fears about automation. Their experiences show how trade schools can unlock financial stability without the crushing debt that often comes with a four-year degree.
“I’m showing my kids that you don’t have to go to a four-year college to get where you want to be in life,” Simmons said.
She now plans to become a registered nurse, while Millar hopes to open her own salon. Both women have found that, in an era of skyrocketing tuition and uncertain returns on traditional degrees, the trades can offer a steadier route to professional growth—on their own terms.