A few months ago I posed the question: “Could your child end up wealthier and happier by not going to college?”
This question has sparked a national conversation that’s helping many students choose good-fitting, well-paying, minimal debt career paths they might not otherwise have even considered.
Now, a Time Magazine article is letting us know just how important this conversation is. “The current construction worker shortage,” Time Magazine says, “is dire.”
If you’re a Minnesotan, you might want to jump straight to my post Free Technical College Education for 1600 Minnesotans right now.
Time Magazine says that huge numbers of workers left construction when the housing market collapsed, and that even though the market has rebounded, workers have not returned. “70% of home builders . . . said they were experiencing a shortage of carpenters,” Time reported. “A survey by the Associated General Contractors in July showed that 86% of commercial builders said they were finding it difficult to fill hourly or salaried positions.”
The end result, Time says, is “a delay in construction projects and increased labor costs. Construction workers’ average hourly earnings (are increasing).”
Mike Rowe, formerly of TV’s Dirty Jobs, agrees. In this interview with Salary.com, Rowe lists 11 blue-color jobs that are hiring, and paying really well to boot.
My suggestion: Read the posts above. Share them with your high school student. Have an honest conversation about possibly looking at alternatives to college.
For clear, step-by-step help getting your kid through college debt-free and into a job they love afterward, get your copy of my book:
Important—> It’s a reference book, so nobody reads the whole thing cover to cover. Pick out what you need to read in it using the fast-paced, 10-minute video instructions here.
You can see hundreds of reviews of this book on Amazon by going to:
You can see why financial advising professionals love LAUNCH, here.
You can see the top 9 questions parents are asking me about LAUNCH, here.
Read just one chapter of LAUNCH every 1–3 months while your child’s in middle school and high school, and you’ll know every viable strategy for debt-free college at exactly the right time to implement it.
And if your child’s already well past middle school? That’s OK; you can run to catch up. But the process of getting your kids through college debt-free goes more smoothly the earlier you start it—especially if you’re not planning to save up any money to pay for college.
Let's you and I walk together toward the goal of debt-free college for your kids.
We can accomplish this no matter your current income level—even if your kids never get a single scholarship.
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Do you have very specific questions for me about debt-free college and career for your kids?
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Who is Jeannie Burlowski?
Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and sought-after speaker for students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them. Her writing, speaking, and podcasting help parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free, ready to jump directly into careers they excel at and love. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents Magazine, and US News & World Report, and on CBS News.
Jeannie also helps students apply to law, medical, business, and grad school at her website GetIntoMedSchool.com. You can follow her on Bluesky @jburlowski.bsky.social.
No part of this article was written using AI.