Harger: An apprenticeship pays $95K in Washington, no anthropology or student loans required. Gallup says Americans noticed

Confession time. For more than 20 years, I taught at a community college. And for a good chunk of that, I didn’t have a college degree. I had most of the credits. I just never got around to wrapping it up.

I taught radio and podcasting part-time, while my full-time job was being a news guy on Seattle radio.

Over the years, I saw plenty of students who would’ve thrived in a trade. Sharp, hardworking people who got steered toward a bachelor’s because somebody told them it was the only path worth taking.

A trade takes plenty of brains. It just skips a lot of the broad coursework a bachelor’s piles on. Your electrician doesn’t need an anthropology class. Your electrician doesn’t need an anthropology class. Nothing against anthropology. It’s fascinating stuff. It just won’t help anyone figure out why the breaker keeps tripping. Your electrician does need to be wicked smart at math.

So I wasn’t shocked this week when Gallup released a new poll. Just 31% of Americans now say a college education is very important.

Back in 2013, it was 70%.

That’s the lowest Gallup has ever recorded, lower even than the 36% it found in 1978, the first year it asked. And nearly as many people, 29%, now say college is “not too important.” In 2013, the gap between those two answers was 64 points. Today it’s two.

Gallup’s college poll shows a reset, and most parents still want college for their kids

A lot of that is cost. Only 12% of adults said a four-year college is affordable.

Every group Gallup tracks dropped by double digits since 2019. Democrats and Republicans. Men and women. Black adults. Older adults. Even college graduates, who went from 53% calling it very important to 38%.

And yet, in Gallup’s own words, most parents still prefer that their kids head off to college right after high school.

Call it a reset. For generations, college was the one sure hand up for our kids. That belief is loosening in a shaky world. We still want the best for our kids. We’re just less sure what “the best” looks like.

The value of a college degree, from a college instructor who didn’t have one

I bought my own insurance policy. In my 40s, I went back, finished the bachelor’s, then got a master’s, because the only constant in radio is change.

What did I get for it? Well, I got really good at semicolons; they were a little wobbly before. Maybe it will help my resume if this whole news-and-commentary thing doesn’t work out.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the degree still pays

Now, the degree does still pay. In 2025, workers with a bachelor’s degree made a median of $1,578 a week, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers with a high school diploma made $966 a week.

That’s about $612 more a week. Bachelor’s holders also had a lower unemployment rate, 2.8% compared with 4.3%.

Employers dropped degree requirements on paper and kept them in practice

But a lot of that gap is a filter employers built.

Plenty of people can do the job. The posting says “bachelor’s degree required,” the hiring software screens them out, and they never get the interview. For a lot of those jobs, the degree has very little to do with the work. That piece of paper became a barrier to entry.

It still is. When big companies made a big show of dropping degree requirements a few years ago, researchers at Harvard Business School and the Burning Glass Institute checked the results. Fewer than 1 in 700 new hires benefited in 2023. Almost half the companies that dropped the requirement did it in name only.

They took the degree off the job posting and kept it in the hiring decision.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Test for the skill the job actually needs. Ask for a work sample. Let hiring managers interview the applicant with 10 years of experience and no diploma.

Hire the person who can do the job.

Washington apprenticeships pay while you learn, with no student debt

Meanwhile, look at the trades.

People who finish a registered apprenticeship in Washington earn a median of $94,900 a year, and 93% are working. Apprentices get paid while they learn. No tuition. No student loans.

On the university side, 47% of students who earned a bachelor’s from a public four-year school in the 2023-24 school year graduated with debt, according to the College Board. Those who borrowed owed an average of $29,560.

An electrician who finishes an apprenticeship starts a career with a paycheck. Many bachelor’s grads start with a loan payment.

Two kids, two paths, one roof in Auburn

At our house, it’s two kids, two paths, one roof.

My daughter just started college. Our family conversation kept circling back to student debt, and she’s the one who worried about it most. She picked community college all on her own. Proud dad moment.

My son’s a freshman in high school. He’s outgoing and social and wants the college experience. He’s also the kid who takes things apart, builds things, and customizes his bike. If he goes into a trade, I’ll be thrilled.

Washington community colleges need to be the front door

Community colleges are facing their own math. The population is shrinking. The number of high school graduates nationwide peaked in 2025 and is projected to fall 13% by 2041. New-student enrollment at Washington’s community and technical colleges fell 4.2% last fall.

Washington’s 34 community and technical colleges serve about 307,000 students, and they face some hard financial decisions. They need to be the welcoming front door. A stepping stone to a university for students who want it. A launch pad into the trades for students who don’t.

The state’s own Student Achievement Council says apprenticeship programs “remain on the periphery” of Washington’s higher education system. Community colleges could own that space.

So yeah, I think that Gallup poll got it right. College still matters. But a bachelor’s is one good path among several now. If you’ve struggled to pay for college, as a parent or a student, you already know.

The target has moved.

Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here. 

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