Here’s why Washtenaw County young adults are skipping college and joining the “toolbelt generation”

When 19-year-old Caleb Penney graduated high school last year, he confronted a question facing many members of Generation Z: What now? Rather than pursue a traditional path through four years of college to a career, Penney joined what is fast becoming known as the “toolbelt generation.” The term refers to the growing number of people ages 18-24 foregoing a longer, more traditional university education in favor of apprenticeships and vocational training. 

“There’s the idea that if you go to college, you are guaranteed a job in a field of dreams. But it’s a lie that has been told to us for generations,” Penney says. “More and more people, especially in my generation, have started to see college as obsolete in general, and a waste of money.”  

As his high school career ended, Penney wanted to start his professional life with a decent income. As luck would have it, his girlfriend’s mother lives in the same neighborhood as an employee of Michigan Works! Southeast (MWSE). That’s how Penney, an Adrian resident, found himself walking through MWSE’s doors into what he describes as “the opportunity of a lifetime.”

With MWSE’s guidance and support, Penney recently started a one-year, self-paced, online cybersecurity course at Washtenaw Community College (WCC), fully funded by a scholarship. The course, which includes 240 hours of work, is structured like the episodes of a podcast. Penney values being able to balance an education and any potential part-time work. 

“When I looked at this route, I was able to check off every box of what I needed, especially being able to make a good chunk of money,” he said. “And, if I really put my nose to the grindstone, I could be finished in just about four to five months.”

Penney is excited because he can work in the cybersecurity field as soon as he earns his certification. He could also transfer credits and pursue a bachelor’s degree, potentially while he keeps working.

“We’ll see how things end up,” he says. “So far, I have no regrets because the only thing you can confirm at the end of four years of college is having to pay for it.”

He acknowledges that there are some stigmas that might be holding back his peers in Gen Z – who are often stereotyped as entitled – from pursuing vocational training. A big misconception is the idea that non-traditional educational pathways, like Penney’s, are solely for the unmotivated.

“People are starting to slowly chisel away at that stigma of being lazy,” Penney says. “… I think we’re finding that the alternative isn’t lazy. It’s just different from what we’re used to and what we’ve been taught to do for so long.”

MWSE Program Administrator Kristyn Nichelson says people are showing more interest in alternative routes into skilled trades like manufacturing, cybersecurity, plumbing, and truck driving. She reports that MWSE’s latest data shows that 27% of the organization’s program participants have forayed into health care, particularly medical assistant work, phlebotomy, and pharmacy tech work. Another 23% were linemen, and 17% wanted into the manufacturing industry, particularly welding. Truck driving also has a strong local showing, accounting for 16% of MWSE program participants. 

Across the board, the appeal is cost effectiveness, on-the-job training, and higher wages. Recently, Nichelson worked with someone who completed a co-op through a MWSE program while he was finishing high school.

“He graduated high school while working with a master plumber, and is now really happy because he knows he’s got a job no matter what,” Nichelson says. “This is an 18-year-old, making more than I do with a master’s degree.”

She says that such people are in “a sweet spot” in time right now, as there will be gaps in hiring due to an aging workforce. An increasing number of business owners are looking to retire and will need people to keep their companies alive.

“We have folks who really want to mentor young people and they will need to train people to take over important roles,” she says. “There are so many opportunities opening up.”

“A blessing since day one”

Nineteen-year-old Darrius Johnson is another young person championing the rise of the toolbelt generation. He’s currently enrolled in the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) program, which provides vocational training for young students in manufacturing. 

It offers a two-year curriculum where students work three days a week at sponsoring companies and attend classes two days a week at WCC. FAME provides students with 1,800 hours of on-the-job experience, leading to a mechatronics degree and a debt-free education. The nationwide program is offered locally through WCC and supported by Ann Arbor SPARK. Students are placed at one of seven companies in Washtenaw, Livingston, and Jackson counties, including automotive giant Toyota, where Johnson works. 

“I love robotics, but was concerned about the time and money needed for university. After high school I started wondering how I could get into the industry otherwise,” Johnson says. “I feel like I caught a golden goose by finding out about FAME and getting hired at Toyota.” 

Johnson, who is now in his second year of the program, says the experience “has been a blessing since day one.”

He’s found that one of the perks of the FAME program is that he has been able to change roles and move around within Toyota. He’s been so folded in that he had to sign a non-disclosure agreement because of what he’s been allowed access to.

“First, I was a maintenance worker at the Ann Arbor testing facility, testing emissions out of the cars. I was later moved to lab ops to test and read information from cars,” Johnson says. “Right now I’m working with sensors that play into driving and the safety systems. I really like it and I’m probably gonna stay there the rest of my tenure.” 

Melissa Sheldon, director of research at Ann Arbor SPARK, is proud of what she’s seen from the program so far. She shares that some students are making more money than most older people ever made in their first jobs.

“While there are certainly fantastic-paying jobs that you can get with a college degree, we’re now recognizing that it’s not the only path to a really high-paying, sustainable career,” she says. “Getting paid $20 or $25 an hour while going to school to learn valuable skills is incredible. And then the earning potential only goes up from there.”

Combating misconceptions

Sheldon says it’s important to provide programs like FAME, but also to work to combat some of the common misconceptions among older generations about skilled trades.

“We still see some stigma around manufacturing. Traditionally, it’s been known as something dark and dirty and associated with layoffs,” she says. “It’s not necessarily the reality we live today, but it’s a reality that many people experienced in their lives. It’s just different generations experiencing ties to the manufacturing industry in different ways.”

Amber Keyes, a business services specialist at MWSE, shares similar sentiments about the need for general awareness. She reports that staff across multiple Southeast Michigan school districts are reporting the biggest barrier to apprenticeships is parental insistence that children go to college.

“A big message I try to get out there is that apprenticeships are so much more than skilled trades. They include professional service jobs like nursing, accounting, and human resources,” she says. “Particularly in Washtenaw County we have a lot of groundbreaking occupations that are being registered with the Department of Labor for apprenticeships.”

The toolbelt generation, she adds, is not only “future-proofing” its earning potential, but leading a charge for overall community success. Generation Z needs to be supported because Baby Boomers are aging out and they often have the keys to valuable institutional knowledge and know-how. 

“We don’t have enough people coming up to physically replace them, so we’re at a crisis point,” Keyes says. “The model of go to college, get a degree, then find a job, and then learn the ins and outs of that job over two years? We do not have time for that anymore.” 

Apprenticeships and vocational training opportunities, she adds, are “strategic and thoughtful, intentional” pathways that help everyone succeed.

“When people thrive, they go to their local mom-and-pop shops, they spend money downtown, they take care of their children, they support the arts,” she says. “When we support non-traditional pathways to the workforce, we support everyone.”

Jaishree Drepaul is a writer and editor based in Ann Arbor. She can be reached at jaishreeedit@gmail.com.

All photos by Doug Coombe.

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