The cost of a trade

The trades are hot. The convergence of government support, fears of AI and desire for a stable way to earn a living have resulted in more people seeking jobs in the trades.

And for the most part, that’s great news. For construction and roofing employers in particular, a steady flow of eager workers is what they have been needing for decades.

But there are signs these potential employees may not be able to follow a path to the trades as easily as their predecessors. In “They chose careers in the trades and still wound up with debt” published in The Wall Street Journal, reporters Te-Ping Chen and Lauren Weber explain how the surge in interest in the trades can backfire.

The reporters write: “One recent survey by the tool company DeWalt found that 52% of students had been waitlisted by high-school vocational programs. Enrollment at
vocational-focused community colleges has soared nearly 20% since 2020, data from the National Student Clearinghouse show.”

This demand has created an opening for private trade schools to charge tuition amounts not often seen in the more traditional union apprenticeship or community college programs.

“Nationwide, trade and technical school revenue hit $5.1 billion in the last quarter of 2025, up 41% from four years before that, according to federal data,” Chen and Weber explain.

And that revenue means potential tradespeople are financing their education not unlike their college-bound counterparts.

Universal Technical Institute, a nationwide trade school, charges $37,000 per year on average but as much as $66,000 per year for specialized automotive-technology programs. The average household income for students attending for-profit vocational schools was around $62,000, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The tuition, though mostly covered by federal loan programs, still can be a significant barrier unless a prospective employer offers tuition reimbursement.

For many students, though, the debt is worth it. Javier Cigarroa, a recent UTI graduate, told The Wall Street Journal: “If I could do it again, I would.”