Trade school vs college

By Select Your College editors · Updated Nov 3, 2026 · Where our data comes from

A volunteer framing a wall at a building site — Photo: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Trade school or college is really a question about which job you want and how fast you want to get there. Here is what the federal College Scorecard shows for 2,123 trade schools, 622 public community colleges and 591 public universities.

Side by side

Median	Public trade school	For-profit trade school	Public 2-year college	Public 4-year college
Average net price per year	$8,389	$21,132	$7,502	$14,262
Completion rate	52%	74%	34%	52%
Earnings 10 years after starting	$42,375	$33,174	$44,885	$59,509
Federal debt of completers	$9,608	$9,497	$10,592	$19,500

A few things stand out:

Public trade schools are the cheapest option on the table, at $8,389 a year after grants. For-profit trade schools cost about 2.5 times as much.
Trade students finish more often, partly because programs are short. The completion rate counts students who finish within 150% of the normal program length.
Earnings 10 years after starting are lower for trade schools as a group, but that average mixes very different fields. Cosmetology and massage programs pull it down; electrical, heavy equipment and nursing programs pull it up.

The trade matters more than the type of school

Program-level data tells a clearer story. Graduates of the typical certificate program in these fields earned more four years after finishing than the median public community college student earns 10 years after starting ($44,885):

Heavy equipment mechanic: $67,167
EMT, surgical tech and imaging: $56,884
LPN and CNA: $56,424
Electrician: $55,718
Paralegal: $54,535
Truck driving (CDL): $52,835
Plumbing: $50,748
Auto and diesel mechanic: $50,310
HVAC: $47,821
Welding: $47,694

The two measures are not identical (one counts from graduation, the other from the first day of school), so treat this as a rough comparison, not a ranking. See highest-paying trades for the full table.

When trade school makes sense

You know the job you want, and it needs a license or certificate rather than a degree: electrician, HVAC technician, welder, LPN, truck driver.
You want to start earning in months, not years.
A public trade school or community college near you offers the program at a low price.

When college makes sense

The job you want requires a degree (teacher, engineer, registered nurse with a BSN, accountant).
You are not sure yet what you want to do. A community college lets you take general courses that transfer.
You have a strong aid offer that brings a university's net price close to a trade program's.

Many community colleges run both: trade certificates and transfer degrees on one campus. Compare programs on the trade schools pages, and colleges on the state pages.

Sources

College Scorecard data, U.S. Department of Education, institution and field of study files, release of October 15, 2026
College Scorecard data dictionary

Frequently asked questions

Is trade school cheaper than college?

Usually. The median public trade school costs $8,389 a year after grants, compared with $7,502 at public community colleges and $14,262 at public universities. For-profit trade schools are the exception at $21,132.

Do trade school graduates earn less than college graduates?

As a group, yes: the median trade school student earns $37,018 10 years after starting, against $59,509 at public universities. But graduates of the best-paid trades, such as heavy equipment mechanic ($67,167 four years after graduation), out-earn many community college students.