1 and 2 Year College Programs That Lead to Well-Paying Jobs: What Parents Should Know
The sugar on the chocolate chip cookies had crusted over on Sarah’s kitchen table last month, next to a stack of crumpled 4-year college brochures and her 18-year-old son Jake’s half-empty soda. Jake was slouched in a folding chair, scrolling through job postings on his phone, while Sarah picked at a loose thread on her sweater. I’m a high school guidance counselor and the neighbor, so they’d asked me over to pick apart the mess: Jake graduated last spring, didn’t want to do four years of college, and Sarah was convinced that meant he was doomed to a lifetime of low-wage work.
“I just don’t get why he can’t just apply like all the other kids,” she said, quiet enough that Jake didn’t hear. “One or two years of school? That’s not real college, right? He’ll never make enough to support himself.”
I get that worry. I grew up hearing the same thing: the only path to a good job is a four-year degree. But over 12 years working with kids who don’t fit that mold, I’ve seen more than a few 1 and 2 year programs that lead to solid, well-paying jobs that don’t require $100k in student debt.
I pulled out my phone to show Jake and Sarah a text I got from Tyler, a kid I worked with three years ago. Tyler never liked sitting in lectures, failed chemistry twice because he never turned in the homework, and said he’d rather work outside than sit at a desk for four years. He did a 10-month CDL training program at our local community college, total cost was under $6,000, and got hired by a regional freight company before he even finished his license. He makes $61,000 a year now, has full health insurance and a 401k match, and bought his own pickup truck last year. That’s more than I made as a first-year counselor, honestly.
CDL training is one of the most reliable 1-year programs out there, I told them. Demand for drivers is so high right now that many employers will even help cover the cost of training if you sign on for a couple years. Other solid 1-year options include solar panel installation technician programs, which run 6 to 12 months at most community colleges, with entry-level pay starting around $40,000 and experienced installers making over $60,000. For kids who like working with computers but don’t want four years of computer science, many community colleges offer 1-year web development certificates, with entry-level front-end developers starting around $48,000, and plenty of room to move up as you build experience.
Then there are 2-year associate degree programs that regularly lead to jobs paying over $70,000 a year starting out. My own son, Sam, did a 2-year electrical lineworker program at our state technical college two years after he graduated high school. He’s 24 now, works for the local power company, makes $76,000 a year, and bought a 1-acre plot of land with a small cabin last year—something I couldn’t have dreamed of doing at that age with the entry-level salary I had back then.
Other high-paying 2-year programs are mostly in healthcare, where demand keeps growing as the population ages. Dental hygiene programs are almost always two years, and the median pay in our state is around $72,000 a year, with most grads getting job offers before they graduate. Diagnostic medical sonography (ultrasound tech) is another 2-year associate degree with a median pay around $75,000, and respiratory therapy degrees come in at around $65,000 starting. For kids who like office work and legal topics, a 2-year paralegal associate degree has a median pay around $56,000, which is nothing to sneeze at for two years of school.
I told Sarah and Jake that the biggest mistake parents make is jumping to an expensive private trade school instead of checking the local community college first. Private trade schools often charge two or three times as much for the same certification, and most community college programs are accredited, work with local employers, and have far lower tuition. Another thing I tell all parents is to ask the program for their job placement rate from the last two years. Any good program will have that data ready, and if they won’t share it, that’s a red flag. I also tell parents to reach out to one or two local employers in the field your kid is interested in, and ask what programs or certifications they actually prefer to hire from. More often than not, they’ll tell you the local community college’s program is just as good as the expensive private one.
Jake leaned forward when we talked about solar installation. He’d spent last summer helping a local contractor re-roof our neighborhood, and liked being outside, moving around, working on projects that he could see get done at the end of the day. The program at the community college is 12 months, total tuition is under $8,000, and they have a partnership with a regional solar company that guarantees interviews for all graduates.
Sarah still has her moments of worry. Last week she stopped me in the driveway and asked again if this is really a “real enough” career, if he’ll have options to move up later if he wants. Jake is wrapping up his summer job, got his application in, and is already talking about what kind of truck he wants to buy once he’s working. We don’t know how it’ll turn out. He might decide after a couple years he wants to go back for a four-year degree, or he might stick with it and build a career he likes. Either way, he’s not starting out with five figures of student debt he can’t pay back, and he’s doing something that actually interests him. That’s a lot more than a lot of 4-year college grads get these days.
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