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Not Just College

For parents of teenagers headed into the trades

Paying for Training Without Debt

The debt-free path is real, and it is not free. Tools, boots, dues and transport all land in the first year, usually while the pay is at its lowest.

These pages are about the money side of training: what federal aid now covers, what to ask a programme before you sign anything, and how the numbers in a school’s brochure are constructed.

  1. Workforce Pell, Explained

    The new grant only reaches programs of 8 to under 15 weeks and 150 to 599 clock hours, which leaves most trade training outside it. Here is how to check.

  2. What Tools Actually Cost in Year One

    Nobody can quote you a national figure for a first year tool kit. Here are the cost categories and the exact questions that get you your own number.

  3. How to Spot a Trade School That Is Selling You

    The FTC names the pressure tactics, the accreditation claim has a trick in it, and the default rate everyone tells you to check is useless right now.

  4. What a Job Placement Rate Actually Means

    A placement rate is a fraction, and both halves are chosen by the school. Four questions turn a marketing number back into something you can use.

  5. Apprenticeship, Trade School or Community College

    One route pays your teenager while they learn and two charge them. That is the real difference, and it still is not automatically the right answer.