Apprenticeships Are a Trending Alternative to College — but There’s a Hitch
Joey Cook was 17 and a junior in high school when he heard about a way to learn a profession while getting paid: by landing an apprenticeship, a path into the workforce that everyone was suddenly talking about as an alternative to college.
“I didn’t want to go get an associate degree. I didn’t want to get a bachelor’s degree,” said Cook. He wanted to get a certification in heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, an in-demand field in his rural western Texas hometown of Hamlin.
An apprenticeship would lead to that. So when he ran into the school superintendent at a basketball game, Cook asked about one — and was told that if he wanted an apprenticeship, he’d have to find it himself.
His disappointment was brief; a local HVAC company happened to be looking for apprentices, and hired him. “It was perfect timing,” said Cook, who sailed through the training and now, at 20, is working at the company full time.
