The traditional path tells our kids a four-year college education is a prize worth achieving after high school graduation — to choose anything else, they settle for less than the best. But, as Bob Dylan famously crooned, “the times they are a changin’.” The educational options available to our post-high school students open a world of possibility. Fulfillment, career success, and happiness follow.
Technical and trade programs, coder boot camps, apprenticeships (such as Body Art & Soul’s Tattoo Apprenticeship), online marketing certifications… the list goes on. The range of options means your child can access a program which best fits their personality, talents, and passions. This leads to greater success, not only in completing the program, but as an active member of the workforce.
Mike Rowe, TV Personality and Founder or Profoundly Disconnected, shares a shift in perspective regarding educational choices that empower kids and their parents to level the playing field. Elevating trade program options to the viability of their four-year counterparts, values the work and skills required for each of these options. Read on to discover why students choose to pursue a future as a professional tattoo artist over a four-year college. The reactions of parents may surprise you!
Spoiler Alert: Students and parents are noticing that the doors of possibility are wide open.
One of the most obvious advantages of Body Art & Soul’s Tattoo Apprenticeships is the difference in the time investment.
Anyone graduating from kindergarten knows that one or two is less than four (or, five or six) years. In fact, the Institute of Education Statistics reports that 64 percent of college students take more than four years to complete a degree. The result? Nearly $70,000 lost due to unearned wages and education costs.
Furthermore, universities require a broad knowledge base which means taking classes outside a given major. While there are advantages to this ideology, Body Art & Soul’s Tattoo Apprenticeships reduce the workload by concentrating on the specific skills needed to succeed as a tattoo artist. Completing an apprenticeship in half (or less) the time of a college degree gets people into the workforce and earning money, rather than paying it out.
But, there’s more.
Four-year degree programs experience a 40 percent dropout rate. The pressures of college life and the struggle to identify one’s passions lead to young adults without degrees, skills, or jobs. Add the guilt of “failing” to reach the goal and missing the mark of a parent’s expectations, and our kids find themselves in a tough spot and battling depression — not any parent’s dream for their child.
Mike Rowe of Discovery’s reality television hit, Dirty Jobs, calls it the “skills gap”. Employers need workers trained in specific skills, and colleges are not necessarily providing them. Trade programs bridge that gap. These workers move easily into the workforce and some apprenticeship-type programs even guarantee job placement, such as tattoo apprenticeships with Ink Different Tattoo School.
College students learn a great deal of knowledge. However, taking these concepts into the workplace is not always seamless. The Economic Policy Institute statistics indicate that the unemployment and underemployment rates of college-degree earners doubled between 2007 and 2014. Plus, many jobs simply do not require four years of training, so why pay for it?
Need more evidence?
Trade jobs are not easily outsourced or automated. Translation? Greater job security. For instance, a tattoo artist in India cannot provide services via the Internet in the USA and a machine is unlikely to create personalized art on a client’s arm or back. Body Art & Soul provides the hands-on training that visual artists need to succeed in the industry. Parents can rest assured of the future employability of their children who are leaving the nest.
The myth of low salaries for trade-trained jobs leaves many parents worried about their children’s future financial stability. However, the facts and figures put these concerns to rest.
The National Center for Educational Statistics estimates the difference between bachelor’s degree earners and trade school graduates as $11,800, with the university-degreed earning more. You might wonder how this helps you rest easy.
Calculating the additional time costs of education into this figure places tattoo artist training far ahead of collegiate graduates in earnings. The value of getting trained and getting started in the job market right away cannot be understated when talking long-term financial stability.
The Idaho Department of Labor estimates the average cost of a bachelor’s degree to be $127,000. With the common need for loans, this means that $50,000 in debt grows to over $100,000. Students need to be certain the education behind these figures will allow them to reach their goals. Dropping out or the inability to find a job after graduation adds financial pressure to families with little to show for it. Mike Rowe weighs in on the high cost of a college education and the lack of jobs for these graduates.
Formal trade schools cost $33,000 on average, with programs like Body Art & Soul’s Tattoo Apprenticeship costing far less. Graduating with significantly less debt gives these students a leg up in the workforce.
Body Art & Soul’s tattoo apprenticeships and trade programs in other fields offer a viable option for kids looking to pursue their love of the visual arts in meaningful ways. Parents see their kids happy and doing something they love while making great money. To combat what Mike Rowe calls “removing the arts from vocational arts”, parents are beginning to look at education for their children in a new light. Trade program options save time and money while boosting salaries, job availability, and financial security.
The diverse future of tattoo artistry opens the doors of dream fulfillment and success to visually artistic young adults. And isn’t this every parent’s dream? To see their kids happy, fulfilled, and successful? Interested in learning more, read our tattoo apprenticeship info for parents.