LeLaina Wakeham, 25, has been in a fulfilling, full-time job that didn’t require a college degree for six years.
Wakeham’s decision was influenced by his father’s background. He was born in Mexico, and after moving to the United States when he was five, he learned “a lot,” he said. Although he did not have a high school diploma or a college degree, he started several successful businesses that allowed him to financially support his family.
“He really wanted us to get an education. He didn’t prioritize getting out of college,” Wakeham told Business Insider. “So he forced us to study on our own, to find out what we were passionate about and how we could study, whether it was college or not, it didn’t matter. great for him.”
During his senior year of high school, Wakeham was struggling to decide on his path to graduation. For the class, he did a research project on how many people actually used the letters they went to college for, and found that most did not.
“I realized that I was already struggling with this decision, and I didn’t know what I wanted to be. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and I was I don’t want to waste a lot of money if I go to college,” he said. “That project really helped me validate my decision to not go to college and start a career.”
However, he realized that school counselors didn’t have much advice for him when he told them he was thinking otherwise. He taught himself to get his mortgage license and now works full time in real estate.
Although college is still the main path for high school students and the most reliable option for career growth and earnings, an increasing number of young people are choosing to skip it. They say it’s hard to get support and information about their other options.
Wakeham said he could relate – he felt he was “being written off as a failure because I wasn’t going to have a college degree.”
“I was taught that the only way I was supposed to learn was to go to college and get a business degree to teach me what I could learn,” he said. “That’s crazy.”
College is permanent. Gen Z needs different communication.
Data from the US Census Bureau found the enrollment rate of high school students at 61.4% in October 2023 was. down from 62% in 2022. While college remains the top path for Gen Zers, some experts say those who want to pursue another path lack the necessary guidance to prepare them for success .
High schools aren’t necessarily ignoring Gen Zers who want a different path. Zach Hyrnowski, Gallup’s senior education researcher, told BI. It can eventually collapse due to lack of resources and structural weaknesses. There aren’t enough teachers and counselors to guide every student, meaning the way high schools are funded and staffed can limit their ability to help students with postsecondary options. aloha as much as they like.
“If you’re responsible for the future of 500 students, I understand that maybe it doesn’t make sense to be able to come up with specific options for each of them and really be able to go deep,” said Hyrnowski.
He added that leaders over the years have made a “conscious strategic decision” to push for the college. “We know the benefits of that, but I wonder if we’ve made too many mistakes,” he said.
Of course, as much as Gen Zers don’t think college is the best path for them, recent data has shown that college continues to provide long-term benefits when it comes to careers and earnings.
Hrynowski said, “If you go to college, you may be successful in your life, you will check your high life. You have a high level of well-being. .”
But, he said, the reality is that there hasn’t been a 100% college enrollment rate after high school, and yet, kids who don’t want to go to college continue to hear about college. and the main post-grad A pathway A recent report from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation found that while 68% of Gen Z high school students say people have talked to them “a lot” about college, less than a quarter have we people have talked to them in other ways such as jobs not. t need qualifications or start a business.
“This was because of a well-intentioned place,” Hyrnowski said, adding, “If students tell us that’s not their way, do we meet them where they are, and we we say, ‘OK, if you don’t. ‘You want to go to college, here are your other options?’
Hannah Maruyama, co-author of “The Degree Free Way,” a guidebook for students who don’t want to go to college, told BI that many Gen Zers don’t know what career options are out there. to the country. the most talked about, such as doctors, lawyers and engineers. Maruyama said changing the conversation and helping students learn about the many careers available that don’t require higher education will be important.
“People are more likely to enjoy their lives and be satisfied with their lives, and find ways to help them live the way they want to live if the careers they choose are compatible with how they want every day, every week, life to look like,” he said.
However, college continues to be the most talked about after high school. Wakeham said she hopes the conversation will change so that Gen Zers like her feel confident in the decision to leave higher education, and have the right tools to make that decision.
“As an 18-year-old, you don’t know what makes you happy, but I would say take the time to find out what makes you happy and what you like, what you like, and do it,” Wakeham said. “We have a lot of options available where consultants might not give it to you, so take it.”
A college degree is not the ‘ultimate measure of success’
Some state lawmakers have recognized the changing perception of higher education and have begun to offer more jobs that do not require a college degree. For example, the Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, has announced that he will take executive action to expand educational opportunities in his state. It can help meet future demand from employers: the The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that between 2020 and 2030, 60% of new jobs in the economy will not require a college degree.
Some high schools have changed to place greater emphasis on other courses since the pandemic. For example, a January report from the Center for Reinventing Public Education conducted 266 interviews from April 2022 to November 2023 with administrators, teachers and administrators at six New England high schools. It found that, among the interviewees, the broad consensus was that high schools should not only prepare students for college or work but should present them with a variety of options that will help them that they feel satisfied.
Some schools offered job-related training before graduation, while others held staff tables and job nights with local employers. “Once upon a time, people defined success in college,” the deputy director said in the report. “And I think people have realized now that that’s not the ultimate measure of success.”
Wakeham says he doesn’t regret his decision to skip college — he’s able to make ends meet and looks forward to building his real estate career.
He said: “I have experience in sales, I have financial knowledge, and I used the internet hard for the first year when I was 18 and nothing helped me. .” “I really had to make a name for myself if I wanted to be successful in the real estate business. So I did. I learned everything I could so I could have a chance.”
Deciding if college is for you? Are you the parent of a child making this decision? Share your story with a reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.