Georgia high schoolers shift from college to trade school, jobs

It was junior year and Effingham resident Kaydence Stearns already knew she wasn’t interested in going to college. Despite graduating with honors and a high grade point average, she didn’t really enjoy school — at least not enough to go into debt over it. 

“I didn’t want to pay all the thousands of dollars to go sit in a classroom even longer, right? That’s just not the environment I like to thrive in,” Stearns said.

The average cost of college has more than doubled in the 21st century, according to an Education Data Initiative report. Once attendees factor in student loan interest and the loss of stable income, a bachelor’s degree can end up costing well over $500,000 dollars.

For the third consecutive year, enrollment in trade programs have increased nationwide, with a jump of almost 12% in 2024, according to the most recent data from the National Student Clearinghouse. Enrollment numbers for undergraduate programs are up 3.5%. 

Coastal Georgia high schools are leaning into the trend and offering life skills courses that go well beyond the SATs. 

Jobs right out of high school

Stearns is a graduate of one such program, Workforce PhD which helps high school seniors in Effingham County prepare for jobs and assist with placement at internships or full-time jobs. 

Todd Wall, CEO of the Effingham College and Career Academy, a public school, said that he designed the program five years ago after noticing a lack of support for students looking to find jobs immediately out of high school.

Those interested in college had high school counselors. Those looking to join the military had branch recruiters. But, the academy didn’t have anything “designed to really help these students kind of get that head start getting into the workforce and trying to find a career right out of high school,” Wall said. 

Workforce PhD is a three-day program teaching students about local industries such as Effingham Industrial Development Authority, Georgia Power, Gulfstream and Hyundai. Wall said. Students are then taken on tours of the facilities, an opportunity Wall said helps to make the job more real for them. 

“A lot of times you can tell … a student, ‘Well, this company does this, A, B, C, D,’ and it really doesn’t resonate,” Wall said. “It really doesn’t hit home until they actually go step foot  in the facility.”

The program also walks students through interviewing, resuming building and interpersonal communication skills. Now working at AeroDynamic Aviation, Stearns said these “soft skills” are what prepared her the most for her current role. 

“I got lucky, because if it wasn’t for that program I wouldn’t have my job now,” she added.

In search of childcare, teachers

While trade industries are having no trouble recruiting workers, the same can’t be said for the early childcare industry. As of March, childcare employment has hovered around 1.1 million, according to the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. 

This stagnation occurs despite the growing need for childcare across the nation. In Georgia alone, 44% of people live in a childcare desert — areas in which there aren’t enough licensed slots for the number of children in need of care. 

This lack of employment was the driving force behind Savannah Technical College’s new Early Childhood Care and Education dual enrollment program, according to Tian Foss, the early childhood instructor at Savannah Tech’s Liberty campus. 

The new program was piloted this past year at Woodville-Tompkins High School, helping 15 students to graduate with their Basics Technical Certificate of Credit (TCC). This certificate holds more weight than a standard Child Development Associate degree (CDA), according to Stephanie Grant, Early Childhood Care and Education Department Head. 

Grant added that CDAs must be renewed every two years, unlike a TCC which doesn’t need a renewal. TCCs also feature more hands-on learning experiences and a more rigorous curriculum. Most importantly, Grant said, students “can actually go straight to work with the TCC.”

“We want to see young people succeed. That’s our number one goal,” Grant said. “We want to see our students succeed. We want them to be a part of the industry.”

Grant added that she believes the extra education students receive as a part of the program will affect the children they teach, ultimately increasing the quality of care they receive.

Diara Shephard participated in the dual enrollment program through her high school as a way of getting her foot in the door when it came to starting college. She added that the program helped her to better understand what to expect when it came to college without the added pressure of finances.

“When you take dual enrollment, the school covers everything, like they cover your books and all,” Shephard said. “It was like a step into college without having to worry about paying for books, tuition and stuff like that.” 

Dual enrollment options are available through Savannah Technical College for 28 general core courses to students in Chatham, Bryan, Effingham and Liberty counties. 

Helping students excel

“What’s your purpose? What’s the life you want to build?” These questions are the building block of the mentoring program at Xcel Strategies, according to Bulloch and Effingham County Director David Humphus. 

“Now that we have a plan, we can start setting goals and making a plan to achieve that purpose,” Humphus said. “Learning how to manage our time, learning how to manage our money, so that we can not just have a dream, but actually achieve it.”

Xcel Strategies, founded in 2012, is a mentoring program that primarily works with those ages 15 through 25, but Humphus said that it does partner with a few middle schools. 

In some counties, like Bulloch and Effingham, Humpus coordinates with the school’s Curriculum, Teaching and Assessment Director to work with specific classes. At alternative schools, students apply to participate in the program and then are sorted into two 10-person classes — one for middle school and one for high school. 

Each county — Chatham, Bryan, Liberty, Effingham, Bulloch, Candler and Paulding— has a mentoring director whose job it is to teach the Xcel curriculum, which includes soft skills like interviewing, relationship building and time management. Mentoring directors also help to introduce students to a multitude of jobs across industries, including aviation, electric, plumbing and welding.

Students get to talk with company managers and then practice the sort of work they could expect  if employed, including toilet installations with Thompson and Thompson, or maintenance work with Georgia Pacific. 

This connection also serves as a vetting process for both student and employer.

“It’s like these students are pre-vetted for them, so they have a greater level of success when they enter the workforce. And we also make sure that when we partner with an employer that they’re good for it as well,” Humphus said. “We want to send [students] to a place where [employers] value that team member and where they’re going to be invested in their growth and their further mentoring and development so that they can really build the success they want.”

For Humphus, the most rewarding part of working with Xcel is being able to help kids identify a future for themselves, especially students from alternative schools. He said he often finds that they’re not bad kids, just ones who lack clear vision and purpose. 

He often tells students that they’re getting access to stuff they wouldn’t typically in a regular school setting — stuff they’ll actually use in the future, “I don’t know what Algebra III is going to do for you, but I do know that these soft skills will help you build your future. I know that you can use every single thing we teach you.”