Fewer Illinois high school students are heading to college, marking a shift in post-secondary trends. Since 2018 — the earliest year data is available — college enrollment among graduates has dropped by 4.2%, according to the Illinois Report Card.

The trend signals a notable change in how Illinois students approach higher education. Amidst rising college tuition and a growing economy, an increasing number of seniors are looking towards alternatives to a traditional post-secondary education.

“Post-secondary success is not limited to only college,” said Brett Thompson, career internship program coordinator for District 203. “We know there’s a big demand right now for young people to enter the trades [and] there’s projected to be a lot of retirements in the coming years. We want to make sure that we’re helping students prepare for those opportunities [in] all things post-secondary.”

The rising cost of a college education

The shift away from higher education comes as Illinois colleges and universities increase tuition at rates outpacing inflation. Across the state, both public and private institutions have continued to raise prices over the past decade.

Data from the National Center for Education Statistics ranks Illinois as the sixth least affordable state for public, in-state colleges and universities, with tuition and fees averaging $14,921 per year. Since 2010, tuition across the state’s public universities has increased by 43%, slightly outpacing inflation.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and Illinois State University all charge among the nation’s 50 highest in-state tuition rates for public, four-year universities. Meanwhile, both the University of Chicago and Northwestern University rank in the top 25 tuition rates for all institutions, based on data from the U.S. Department of Education.

And at North Central College, inflation-adjusted tuition has increased 16% since 2010, to a total of $44,394 annually. According to the annual Gallup-Lumina State of Higher Education report, 85% of adults who are not currently pursuing an industry certificate or college degree cited similarly-high costs as an “extremely” or “moderately important” reason to not enroll — more than any other factor surveyed.

“A high sticker price can discourage some students from even applying, but they should always dig deeper for schools they’re interested in attending to learn more about available financial aid,” said Jill Desjean, Director of Policy Analysis for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. “The school’s net price calculator is a great place to start.”

But tuition is just one of many factors that contribute to the growing costs of a college degree. Housing, books, fees and living expenses on college campuses have all increased in recent years as well.

The University of Illinois Board of Trustees announced a tuition freeze in January 2024, maintaining a base undergraduate tuition of $12,712 annually for the 2024-25 academic year. However, room and board costs increased by 5% at both the Urbana-Champaign and Chicago campuses, according to the university.

North Central College’s $44,394 per year tuition is just 74% of the total sticker price of attending the institution. For students who choose to live on campus, housing ranges from $7,988-$11,704 per year, depending on dorm location.

“The cost of attendance is meant to capture all of the costs associated with attending college,” Desjean said. “So [it’s] not just tuition and fees, but also things like books and supplies, housing, food and transportation, among other costs.”

Between tuition, fees, room and board, the average cost of an Illinois resident attending an in-state public university has risen to a total of $27,214, up by 41% since the NCES started publishing tuition data in 2010. At private four-year institutions across the state, the cost has increased by 57% during that span, to an average total of $52,234.

Desjean hopes that increases in financial aid can cover many of those expenses for low-income students. Since 2010, the University of Illinois System has more than doubled its budgeted financial aid to a total of $282.8 million in FY2023.

“Investing in financial aid can help institutions draw from a larger pool of applicants and ensure that students don’t attend simply because they can’t afford it,” Desjean said.

Others aren’t as optimistic. In 2019, the Institute for Higher Education Policy ranked the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as the nation’s ninth least affordable public flagship university for in-state students, leaving middle-income families with $15,507 in unmet financial need. The deficit leaves many students without the ability to pay for higher education, causing some to reconsider college altogether.

“I’ve had financial anxiety; I don’t want to be in debt,” said senior Carter Bergholtz, who plans on entering a trades apprenticeship after attending the College of DuPage. “Starting off in debt when you can work and build [a career] so that you won’t have as much later [isn’t great].”

The high costs have left Illinois graduates with a total of $62.3 billion in student loan debt, an average of $39,055 per borrower. It’s a number that ranks Illinois as the fifth highest state in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid.

“Unfortunately, I think we’ve seen that college education is not a great return on investment for a lot of people, and that it’s just not the right path for a lot of people,” said Josh Bandoch, Head of Policy for the Illinois Policy Institute. “Instead, going into the trades or simply getting a job out of [high school] is going to be a much better way to care for yourself and care for your family.”

Still, evidence from Georgetown University’s Center for Education and the Workforce suggests that a college education pays off economically in the long-term. Even amidst rising prices, Illinoisans with bachelor’s degrees make $1.38 million more in lifetime earnings, on average, than those with just a high school diploma — 12x more than the total cost of college across four years at Illinois’ average in-state public institution and 35x more than the average student loan debt in the state.

“Our research has consistently shown the substantial payoff of a bachelor’s degree in the labor market,” said Artem Gulish, senior federal policy advisor at CEW. “It is true that student loan debt has grown in recent years as the costs of higher education have increased. However, our analysis shows that even after accounting for the costs of college education — including net tuition, fees and foregone earnings, along with the likelihood of employment and working full-time — a bachelor’s degree confers over $1 million dollars in earnings gains relative to a high school diploma over a worker’s career.”

Decline of a ‘college-for-all’ mindset

Beyond costs, the shift away from college enrollment is also evidence of a growing cultural change among students, according to Bandoch. While a college degree has long been held a necessary prerequisite for social mobility, recent discussions frequently cite trade school and the military as positive alternatives after high school.

“We have tried this experiment for 60 years, saying ‘everyone should go to college,’ and now we see that that hasn’t worked out so well,” Bandoch said. “What students need to consider is, what sort of training [they] need to have a career to provide for themselves, their family, to do all the things that they want to do over the course of their lives.”

Bergholtz plans on getting an apprenticeship with a local pipefitters union after a year at the College of DuPage. He thinks that similar programs are a beneficial and debt-free alternative to college.

“They pay for the younger people coming into the union’s education during their training,” Bergholtz said. “It makes it easier [so] you don’t have to go to a trade school, you can jump straight into [an apprenticeship] and they’ll pay for your training.”

More than 22,000 people are currently enrolled in apprenticeship programs across Illinois, representing a 77% increase since 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The overwhelming majority have never attended college.

Internships can also provide a more direct path to a career than a college education in specific fields. For senior Elena Stojanova, that freedom has led her to look for internships in the biotechnology industry as a means of entering the workforce after graduation.

“It’s relatively easy to begin working with the knowledge I already have [from] taking courses in high school,” Stojanova said. “There might be some certifications I have to get, but with the lab experience that I have, I feel like I’m ready.”

Similar apprenticeship programs can help many students find careers without the typical cost of a college education, according to Bandoch. Beyond typical trades jobs, apprenticeships also exist for a wide variety of fields, from computer science to health sciences.

“The span of fields that you can apprentice in is far wider than simply being a plumber or being an electrician,” Bandoch said. “You can apprentice in health trades and now you can see apprenticeships in more technical trades — you can apprentice to learn to code. So it isn’t only for blue collar jobs; these are jobs that we would think could be white collar jobs.”

For others, a strong economy encourages them to enter the workforce sooner. Altogether, 33% of American adults who are not currently pursuing an industry certificate or college degree cited a favorable job market as an “extremely important” reason in choosing not to enroll — up from just 25% in the 2023 Gallup-Lumina State of Higher Education report.

“Broadly speaking, when the economy is strong, prospective students are more likely to opt for the workforce than college, but the effects vary by type of institution,” Gulish said. “Enrollment at four-year institutions and in graduate school is less affected by a strong economy than at two-year institutions and vocational schools, which generally experience larger enrollment swings depending on the strength of the economy.”

The trend holds especially true as a growing number of companies loosen job requirements during Illinois’ ongoing labor shortage. Since 2017, the number of job openings that require a college degree has decreased from 51% to 44%, according to the Burning Glass Institute, a nonprofit research center focusing on labor policy.

Separate analysis by the institute found that 44% of college graduates in Illinois are now employed in jobs that don’t typically require a bachelor’s degree.

“Employers are seeing that the value of a college degree isn’t what it was 20, 30, 40 [or] 50 years ago — the quality of that degree and the education that happens has just decreased significantly,” Bandoch said. “They also see that by having that restriction of college degree only, they are getting a smaller pool of applicants, and there’s talent out there beyond people who simply have a degree.”

Stojanova believes that high school has prepared her for the workforce better than many college classes would. Instead, she thinks on-the-job training is the best pathway to employment for her future career.

“Some of the college courses aren’t necessary for what I want to do, so going into the workforce — yes, it means I have to begin working a little bit earlier than others, but it also means I get to learn things specific to what I want to work on and develop and are interesting to me,” Stojanova said. “A lot of times companies are not looking for someone who has already done every single thing that they need them to do, but they’ll teach them [on the job].”

Bandoch says that for many business-related jobs, it’s often better to go directly into the workforce than pay thousands of dollars for a college education. Across Illinois, Georgetown University’s Center for Education and the Workforce projects that only 46% of jobs in sales and office support will require an associate degree or higher by 2031.

“You go into those trades, and there’s demand for those things; they pay well, you save a lot of time [and] save a lot of money,” Bandoch said. “Apprenticeships [are] usually much shorter than going to college — in some cases, you can do it in as quickly as a year to be fully trained up — so then you’re 19 [and] you have a career for the next 40 years.”

Charting careers at the Technology Center of DuPage

On Dec. 5, Central sophomores traveled to Addison for the annual Technology Center of DuPage Explore Day field trip, which offers students an opportunity to learn about jobs in the trades through career exploration and field-specific training.

TCD offers 18 programs across a variety of career pathways, including Automotive Technology, Cosmetology and Welding Technology. This year, dual enrollment from Central to TCD has more than doubled, from 15 to 32 students.

“There’s more jobs available than people in the field to take them, so the opportunities there are massive for students who choose to go directly into the workforce,” TCD Principal Jason Hlavacs said. “Our programs right now are serving the need for high-demand, high-paying, high-need jobs and that’s where our focus is at.”

The programs, which are limited to juniors and seniors, give students the opportunity to earn college credit, certification and licensure in the relevant career field after completion of the course (which lasts between one and two years). Involved students attend periods one through four at Central before taking a bus to the TCD campus for the remainder of the school day.

“Students have an opportunity to study coursework that they would not otherwise have the opportunity for,” Thompson said. “We’re fortunate and lucky to have a career center that’s close enough that our students can take advantage of and study material that’s important to them and that they want to pursue.”

The recent increase is evidence of a growing job market in the trades, Bandoch says. The Illinois Department of Employment Security projects that there will be 148,000 job openings in the trades by 2032, accounting for 20% of all open positions statewide.

“If we know that in the trades, there are all these job openings in the future, why not get a job in that field?” Bandoch said. “Train in an apprenticeship in a field where you know you’re going to have employment. Go where the jobs are, and go where the higher-paying, debt-free opportunities are.”

It’s a view shared by Hlavacs. Though the average salary in Illinois is $67,130, jobs in the construction trades have salaries averaging $76,930 within the state, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“The jobs that we’re trying to make sure that we’re fulfilling in the careers that we’re trying to guide kids to are the jobs that are ones that can’t be outsourced — they’re here [and] they’re immediate,” Hlavacs said. “As time continues and the amount of trained technicians that are exiting the workforce are more than the ones that are entering, that’ll also increase the demand and the need for higher salaries to attract more people to become part of it.”

Many of those jobs need industry-recognized certification to enter a career in the field, a requirement supported by TCD. In total, 56% of TCD students earn such certification by their graduation, often at a reduced cost. While private cosmetology programs typically cost between $10,000 and $25,000, preparing for the Illinois State Cosmetology License exam only costs around $2,000 at TCD.

In Bergholtz’s HVAC/R technician program, students work hands-on as they troubleshoot, repair and maintain a variety of climate-control systems. He hopes to use the skills he learns at TCD to repair his own house and prepare him for a future trades apprenticeship.

“I’m not a big fan of regular school and math, especially last year, I [thought] ‘why am I doing this? What am I going to be using this for?’ Bergholtz said. “At TCD, there’s [an] actual purpose to what I’m doing and I can apply it to a job or fixing things in my house.”

The impact of Illinois’ post-secondary policies

The Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act — signed into law in 2016 — creates College and Career Pathway Endorsements to recognize and incentivize “student attainment of knowledge and demonstration of skills important for success in both postsecondary education and employment.”

Since 2021, more than 4,000 Illinois students have earned a CCPE seal on their transcript, including 195 from District 203. They range from finance and healthcare to agriculture and the trades.

In order to earn a CCPE, students must complete two years of career-focused coursework with at least six hours of early college credit, two career exploration activities or one intensive experience, two team-based challenges with adult mentoring and 60 hours of paid or for-credit supervised career development. They must also follow an individualized learning plan and be ready for college-level coursework in reading and math.

“For the students who know their interests, it’s really a great opportunity,” Thompson said. “It builds clarity. Having a work-based learning career development experience will help validate that thinking, and now as [students] move into post-secondary [life], they have a very clear plan.”

CCPE recipients are also eligible for a number of benefits beyond a transcript seal, including automatic consideration as a finalist for the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois (a teacher preparation program offering up to $23,000 in tuition assistance) for a CCPE in education and scholarships with the Illinois Manufacturing Association for students with a CCPE in manufacturing.

As recognition increases, so too does the number of endorsements earned across Illinois. Since 2021, the number of endorsements awarded per year has increased from 47 to 2,422, according to Illinois State Board of Education data. District 203 will double the number of CCPEs it offers for the 2025-26 school year, and is set to introduce nine new courses in support of those endorsements.

“Our hope is that between the collaboration with counselors, with the internship coordinators and everyone else across all the academic areas, we’re [able] to provide a little bit more exposure to [CCPEs],” said Steve Jeretina, Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Instruction. “This looks good on [a] transcript and it’s something that will separate you from somebody who may not have [a CCPE] as you’re applying for a job or on a college application.”

District 203 also proposed the implementation of a new modified block schedule that’s aimed at allowing greater schedule flexibility for a growing number of student internships, a requirement to earn a CCPE. The number of students enrolled in school internship programs has more than tripled at Central within the past year, according to District 203 data.

Senior Priya Aggarwal is eligible for the Network Systems Information Support and Services endorsement at the end of the year. She took a variety of computer science classes and interned at both Code Ninjas and RudderVirt while at Central in order to qualify for the recognition.

“If I want to go into a field like computer science or IT, it’s better if I have work experience from high school that’s gonna help me in college when actually I start to apply for internships where it’s really competitive,” Aggarwal said. “I thought it would be a great opportunity.”

Others think there’s still room to improve.

“My first two years [at Central], they were definitely pushing SchooLinks and looking at colleges, and there wasn’t a focus on the trades,” Bergholtz said. “It should be a general focus, but I didn’t see anything standing out for the trades — I had to find it on my own.”

In 2024, Illinois spent $6.3 billion on colleges and universities within the state, compared to just $28 million on post-secondary career and technical education programs (including work-based learning and apprenticeships), according to the Illinois Policy Institute.

“It’s a terrible resource misallocation that means that people don’t get the support they need to unleash their potential and to at least have a job,” Bandoch said. “We think one thing that the state should consider is to shift some of the funding for colleges [and] universities over to apprenticeships, because that’s not a lot of money to have programs that are going to be robust, to grow those programs [and] to market those programs.”

With limited funding, Bandoch says the scope of these programs is minimal. Illinois currently has 57 youth apprenticeship programs, which ranks the state 26th in the nation and among the worst in the Midwest, according to the Urban Institute.

“I’d like to see whatever it takes to increase the size and scope of these programs, and then a full-scale marketing campaign because the awareness and the social stigma are huge problems,” Bandoch said. “People don’t know that the trades are an option, that they pay extremely well, that it’s actually okay to go into the trades [and] that doesn’t make you lesser in some way.”

Ultimately, apprenticeship programs in the trades and other fields are just one of a variety of options for students to consider after high school graduation.

“Students should consider whether the program of study they would pursue is likely to lead to sufficient earnings to pay back their costs, including any loans they would need to take out,” Gulish said. “[It’s also important to look at] whether other alternatives they are considering — apprenticeships, non-degree credentials, etc. — offer a realistic pathway to good jobs in their chosen field.”

Sarah Segvich contributed to this story.