10 Benefits of Attending a Technical or Trade School

When a student who comes from a well-educated family decides on attending a technical or trade school, parents are often unsure or confused.

They wonder, “What are the benefits of trade school? Will they have a bright future with only a two-year technical education? Will they get the chance at a lucrative career? Is this their path to success?”

While parents are understandably worried, the current economic landscape shows going to a traditional university may no longer be the only option to assure career stability.

An interesting discussion about profession and trade education is brewing. Policymakers are urging academic institutions to provide students with skills to lead them to in-demand and middle-class professions.

This kind of training is mostly found in traditional trade colleges that specialize in fostering individual growth while preparing students for popular and profitable occupations.

Unlike conventional four-year institutions, trade colleges award certificates and degrees toward the student’s dream career. These schools offer on-the-job training in a specialized skill, enabling learners to omit general education subjects and gain skills from lectures and practical sessions that highlight or develop abilities specific to a job.

Definition of a Trade School

Trade schools (or others call them vocational or technical colleges) teach their students fundamental skills for particular jobs. Generally, these schools are future plumbers, mechanics, technicians, carpenters, and more.

Professionals in highly specialized careers, including specialists in avionics and wind turbine installations, also obtain their skills from technical or trade schools.

Technical schools present a faster and shorter way to a bankable profession compared to other academic tracks. Usually, bachelor’s degrees require a minimum of four years to complete, which is a long time to wait to land decent pay. Trade schools award certificates in two years or less, and qualify graduates for work.

The stability of work for individuals with trade skills is one of the major advantages of attending a technical school. With a vocational certificate, you can immediately fill the need for a skill set. The hands-on, results-focused work of these professions is often compared with white-collar jobs that many believe to be “missing a purpose.”

Students are able to not only showcase their skills but also improve them through apprenticeships, which trade and technical colleges or vocational schools offer. Vocational schools, in particular, run programs with different timelines while community colleges mainly offer associate degrees that can be completed within two years.

Students who attend trade colleges can enjoy similar federal financial support, similar to other college students who attend traditional institutions. Even students of programs with a 15-week duration or less may still be eligible for federal loans.

Characteristics of Trade or Technical Education

Contextualized Learning

One of the primary characteristics of a trade or technical school is the contextualized education it offers. Instructions are taught in a way that students can “create meaning” in the lessons and skills they gain. Typically, trade schools are big on externships, service-learning opportunities, and some overseas study programs.

Trade students and graduates enjoy a direct line of sight to work. Having had the opportunity to use industry-standard equipment and resources, and learn the value of professionalism, they usually graduate with the right jobs waiting for them.

Instructors also focus on activities that stimulate the students’ problem-solving abilities. They present multiple job conflicts that workers may possibly encounter, and steer students toward the right ways to resolve the issue. In this set-up, trade or technical students are encouraged to act upon these scenarios with and from their fellow learners within small class sizes.

Diversity

Students attending technical schools come from diverse occupational, academic, and skills backgrounds. These programs utilize numerous approaches to foster diversity while encouraging an atmosphere of mutual respect and a common thirst for learning.

Advanced Training

Expectedly, instructors and teachers in trade schools have the expertise and experience to not only deliver quality technical education but also show students the many possibilities that await them in the workplace. With instructors imparting comprehensive knowledge, training, and development methods, students can become prepared students for their future trade or technical profession.

Orientation

The optimum success of a technical school is not merely based on the students’ academic achievements; the emphasis is on their work or professional accomplishment. A trade school’s curriculum is usually geared toward the process itself, emphasizing its impact on its students.

Focused Education

In technical schools, the curriculum focuses not only on improving the understanding of a particular field. It is also concerned with developing the student’s knowledge, attitudes, skills, and values, which can significantly contribute to their employability.

The curriculum also focuses on incorporating academic courses about communication skills and applied sciences to easily connect these academic subject matters to applied technical education subjects.

Justified Courses

When students attend a vocational school, they will go through a program geared towards filling in a specific locale’s identified job requirements. Such requirements are not only based on a general impression.

They are identified to the extent that nobody questions the demand for such a position in a particular professional field.

Hence, the justification of the course goes further than the school environment and the community. The course is designed for the learner; support for such a course is obtained from job opportunities.

Trade School vs. Traditional College

Trade schools may have significant differences from traditional four-year colleges. Usually, the typical aspects are related to expenses, program timeline, and skills earned.

Normally, technical schools have a curriculum tailored to a particular job assignment, while conventional universities involve more extended coursework before acquiring a certain profession’s skills.

Expenses

Technical schools are known to have short courses with programs that can be finished within the year. Since there is less time to stay in college, vocational graduates can immediately join the workforce. In traditional colleges where their programs can last for two or more years, their cost of attendance is undoubtedly expensive, and may even have huge loans by the time they graduate. 

Skills Earned

Students who attend technical schools will gain specialized education to develop a particular skill set required for their future jobs. The program will involve several practical training before they can receive their certification.

Some of the common courses in trade schools are welding, HVACR, medical and dental assistance, truck driving, and electrician. These courses are taught by seasoned instructors who are industry experts with meaningful experiences working in the area they are handling.

Unlike their four-year counterparts, trade schools don’t need general education subjects and are more focused on the abilities required for a particular profession. Most sectors oblige their future hires to hold industry certifications, and trade or technology colleges train students with the necessary skills and knowledge to take the certification tests. This certification is their ticket to entering the workforce.

Academic Pathway

Students who choose a trade school are almost always certain of the jobs they wish to pursue. These learners are determined to develop their skills and knowledge in a particular area like electronics, plumbing systems, carpentry, and HVAC. These are usually offered in most universities or may require a more extended academic pathway. 

Even students in community colleges, where most programs also have shorter timelines, have not yet decided what type of job they want to end up with. They are still exploring more general education and trying out various classes to narrow down their options.

School Environment

Because trade schools implement concentrated learning, their education will involve a lot of hands-on learning opportunities focused on job-related training.

Although there are still lectures, students spend a lot of time performing activities, actual drills, and exercises about their lessons. The experience earned by trade school students will be for their future profession, like medical imaging or cosmetology.

Trade schools come in different types–technical and vocational. Technical schools educate their learners about the rationale behind their profession, while vocational schools prepare them through rigid hands-on training in the skills needed for the position.

On the other hand, universities apply extensive theories to broaden the student’s knowledge of the general field like medicine before studying for their specialization, such as dentistry or veterinary medicine. In comparison, community colleges apply more lectures to assist students in learning about a particular job market.

Their programs and courses develop the students to be career-ready. Students may earn their associate’s degrees in less than two years, but most transfer to universities after completion to begin their specialization. 

Benefits of Attending a Technical School

Cost-efficient Education

One of the main reasons students prefer to enroll in a trade school is its financial benefits. It is a lot cheaper than earning a degree from a university. Students can make huge savings since they have a shorter time in college and pay less for textbooks and miscellaneous expenses. 

Besides that, students will have a faster chance of finding a job and begin earning back what they’ve paid for college. Rather than devoting long hours inside lecture rooms for a couple of years, a trade school will kick-start students’ lives after graduation, allowing them to save more for their families or other aspirations.

Technical schools don’t require their learners to live on campus, saving them from living away from home. Generally, it’s the accommodation expense that makes the cost of attendance in universities skyrocket to thousands of dollars every year.

This is something students from trade schools don’t have to think about. Even if they pay for transportation going to and from school, it is still a lot cheaper than paying for room and board. Ultimately, the student can finish their trade education without being knee-deep in debt and student loans.

Job-focused Education

Technical and vocational institutions concentrate more on job-focused, hands-on education in a specific trade or skill. Students can maximize the high-tech facilities in the classroom, which usually are close enough to their future job site. Like aspiring avionics specialists who normally go for an internship, they will earn real-work experience using top-of-the-line specialized facilities. 

The curriculum of technical schools develops the abilities utilized in the job site and not the lecture room. Trade school, its objective is plain and simple–teach skills and provide the experience needed to succeed in the student’s chosen job after graduation. 

Furthermore, most of their programs are offered year-round. Students don’t have to wait for the academic year to enroll in their preferred discipline. Some of them even have new lectures every five or six weeks, allowing more options for students who may have other commitments on a regular academic schedule.

In universities, students sometimes get frustrated and delayed when they take up general education such as history, foreign languages, or English. These are common subjects skipped at trade schools since they are all unrelated to the job that the student is pursuing. 

Small Class Size

Attending a university can be overwhelming and intimidating because of its vast community. Classes can be as large as 200 students. Fortunately, trade schools have compact class sizes, a little closer than the classes in secondary school. Students in this type of setup tend to be more attentive and less intimidated. They do not hesitate to raise questions or issues with the instructors.

For Cosmetology, Therapeutic Massage, and Medical Assistance programs, a smaller class size translates to conducive learning. Instructors provide personalized teaching and present constructive criticism—the essential elements in a trade school student’s learning experience.

In addition, having a small community can improve the students’ overall experience since they can know their instructors more while creating memorable encounters during the class.

Small class size also means sharing similar interests and career choice among their fellow learners. This allows them to form like-minded groups that may also be interested in similar things outside school.

Together, they will create a bond that acts as their emotional support making it easier to traverse college education. This tight-knit community helps build networks that will be beneficial when they seek employment later on.

Flexibility

Some students are unable to meet the rigors of university life. These students have several reasons why they hardly fit the typical profile of those accepted to such institutions. Some of them may already be parents, much older than the usual learners, or have just gone back from military deployment.

Hence, they go to a much more comfortable and flexible trade school. Technical colleges are known to have the appropriate resources and setups for non-traditional learners. 

Generally, technical schools’ admissions requirements don’t rely on the applicant’s previous school performance. Instead, they ask for a GED or a high school diploma. Grades will not always be high and perfect. The admissions counselor is well aware of that and the applicant’s colorful past, so students don’t have to worry whether they’ll get in or not because of their low grades. 

For quite some time, those who have left school may feel that trade school is a much more welcoming institution than a traditional four-year college. The timing for classes is more lenient, especially if they’re parents or have a side job. And even the transition phase of going back to school is much smoother because there are no rigid rules or timelines to follow. 

There are several factors why attending a university is not for everyone. But this doesn’t mean they’re no longer eligible to learn more about their passion. Whether their interests are in creating art, becoming a part of a non-clinical healthcare community, or working with bare hands, trade school can help them reach their dream job at their own pace and time.

For some people, doing what they’re passionate about is much more valuable than getting a lucrative career. 

Professional Guidance

Career development advice is vital to every college student, and technical colleges focus on providing it to their learners. Although every higher education institution has career advising centers, trade schools deploy more comprehensive guidance like development workshops or having more available advisors for students.

Also, employers tend to have solid relationships with trade schools and other schools in their communities. Students can take advantage of such relationships when finding a job following their graduation.

As they complete their externships with local firms, most students can quickly move on from their on-the-job training to their chosen profession, or they’re even offered a full-time position from the same company they’ve rendered their apprenticeship. 

The combination of classroom-based teaching with work-based education and apprenticeships will give students the chance to collaborate with employers, directly acquiring knowledge from industry experts.

Being exposed to the job site will allow them to develop employability skills, assess their classroom knowledge applied in the actual work environment, and work with staff on real projects with significant contributions to the company. 

Less Stringent Acceptance Criteria

Students who are having trouble with taking admissions tests and those adults who have been out of school and returning to college can be alarmed by the admissions procedure of a traditional university.

This type of institution focuses more on the applicant’s GPA and other curricular involvements. They are more selective and would only pick those that can exemplify the school’s quality of education.

On the other hand, trade schools have fewer acceptance criteria. They don’t look into the student’s standardized test scores. Even the extracurricular activities that most conventional colleges put heavy consideration on are not included in the application requirements.

Students planning to attend trade schools don’t have to worry about doing extra work before submitting their application. The college will openly accept them regardless of their high school performance. As long as they submit the necessary documents, they can enroll in a technical or trade program.

If they’re interested in cardiovascular technology and other more complex programs, they may encounter a slightly longer list of requirements. However, these requisites will not be as tough as those required by a four-year institution.

Job and Earning Security 

Products of technical schools will land in jobs that are hard to export to a different country. Several jobs are outsourced in areas where labor is inexpensive, creating domestic employment issues in various industries.

It is faster to export jobs related to computer programming or information technology positions than to outsource electrical or carpentry jobs since these require the individual to be physically present.

Additionally, there’s a surge in local demand for highly specialized jobs. The government has urged various sectors to create more employment opportunities since the older population currently holds them. 

Since the younger generations are considering a job’s salary package when applying for work, trade school graduates can also earn as much as those who graduated from the university.

There may not be directly proportional to a four-year college graduate’s salary, but trade school products can essentially earn the same or more because they only studied for an average of two years. And in the next two years of working, they may have already made more than a university graduate’s annual salary. 

Shorter Path To A Degree

Most students will think that getting a degree will need four or more years spent in the institution, which can be daunting for first-year students who are still clueless about college life. However, this is not the case in trade schools. Students could earn a job certificate or degree in less than two years if they followed the program’s standard timeline.

This is considerably shorter than four or more years. There are even programs that may require less than a year to complete. For students who wish to work immediately instead of spending most of their time studying, this is the ideal option for them.

Holding a certificate or degree from a technical school means having access to the most recent popular jobs. These technical colleges run numerous programs that employ the latest industry trends, techniques, and technologies, enabling students to receive the most advanced degrees.

Possessing the appropriate skill set will make the student marketable and attractive to employers and their prospective clientele.

Multiple Training Locations

Trade schools usually have several locations, making it easy for students to access a career-focused education. Unlike in conventional universities where one has to stay close or live on campus to attend classes, technical schools are almost everywhere.

There may be multiple trade colleges in one area. Students have to choose which one offers the specific training or program they plan to pursue. 

Also, their multiple locations come with a broad range of programs to choose from. Since higher education continues to evolve, so are the programs offered by technical schools. Its diversity continues to grow, keeping up with the advancements of every industry. The school aims to produce a qualified graduate, equipped with the latest technical knowledge of their field of study. 

Practical Training

Several studies on the effectiveness of different teaching methods identify that practical training provides a stronger retention level than other environments. Students tend to remember more of the topic if they acquire it first-hand.

Although every student’s learning ability varies, direct interaction with the resources and concepts can trigger the subject’s higher recollection. With continuous practice, the students become better in their future trade.

Consequently, more students prefer to attend trade school due to its ability to provide real-life and interactive experiences. Their training will allow them to be experts in theory and practical knowledge, all relevant to their job.

Furthermore, they learn special abilities and get sufficient training from seasoned professionals who have been working in the industry for a long time.

As students go through their technical education in an actual environment, they become involved in resources and concepts. Such methods intensively prepare them for possible scenarios and problems they will encounter while working.

Also, their hands-on training will teach them to work with their tools in an actual simulated environment. Students will learn practical safety from this administered but realistic learning environment.

This observance of safety processes is essential in sectors where they use heavy equipment, electricity, and sensitive devices. Acquiring such skills before getting hired will physically protect them, their employers’ operation, and their future customers’ families and houses.