U.S. vocational schools see second year of double-digit growth

Enrollment at public two-year schools with a “high vocational focus” jumped for the second consecutive year, with 2024 seeing double-digit growth, according to data released on Thursday by the National Student Clearinghouse. 

Why it matters: The U.S. HVAC industry faces mounting demand, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting over 40,000 annual job openings for technicians and installers through 2033.

• “Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or… retire,” it says, adding that these projections are “much faster than the average for all occupations.”

What’s happening: Total enrollment at vocational-focused schools grew 13.6 percent to 923,000 students in Fall 2024, building on a 16 percent increase in 2023. 

• Zoom in: HVAC programs at these schools saw enrollment grow 27 percent to 25,000 students — a 41 percent jump from 2020.

Of note: The trades are attracting younger talent through apprenticeships, too, with the number of 16 to 24-year-olds in registered programs more than doubling between 2013 and 2021.

Zoom out: This shift comes amid declining enrollment at traditional universities and rising tuition costs that have contributed to the country’s $1.7 trillion student debt burden.

• U.S. colleges and universities lost 2.7 million students between 2010 and 2021, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The bottom line: “As other businesses shut down [during Covid], more people realized that the skilled trades were reliable, well-paying paths that weren’t going away,” a PHCC director told the Wall Street Journal.   

• The National Student Clearinghouse will release Spring 2025 enrollment numbers in May.