I have a friend who got into boat repairs our of high school. It evolved into boat restoration.

OP again, what's a good resource to use for salary expectations. When I google I come up with a wide range of numbers and while salary isn't the determining factor it's definitely something we will consider.

So many great ideas, I really appreciate this. And it's encouraging to hear so many success stories outside of traditional college. I must admit, I have been worried but I also know there are many ways to succeed.

For the people that have asked what's he interested in, he doesen't know. He's always been an athlete and has been on high-level travel teams so that pretty much took up all of his time. But he doesn't have dreams of going professional or anything like that.

I work with companies who pay a lot for high-quality welders. Maybe not an exciting job but desperately needed.

One nephew is doing double apprenticeship as electrician and home construction. He is in demand already.

After a two year diploma in hospitality services, a niece worked as an apprentice sous chef for an airline. She has been promoted to supervisor after just one year.

Another niece has an apprenticeship with Toyota services, loves it and has work for life since many people hang on to Toyotas far longer than most other cars.

Most others in our family have college degrees but it is definitely not for everyone.

There are many paths to success and happiness. Good luck to your son.

What is he interested in? What does he do in his spare time? Does he use the computer a lot?

Anonymous wrote:Culinary school / sous chef training
Hospitality trade certificate in NYC (DD’s friend did that and loved it)

That's setting them up for terrible hours and low pay for years. 99.99% of chefs are not on Top Chef, they're working the line in a hotel or a chain

elevator repair. They make bank.

Culinary school / sous chef training
Hospitality trade certificate in NYC (DD’s friend did that and loved it)

I encouraged mine to go to college, but he followed his heart and completed the auto tech program in high school and got a job at Toyota before he graduated. He spent two years there, earned a couple more certifications and is now at a high performance exotic shop with salary/benefits, working on Ferraris, Lambos, McLarens. At 20, he has his own apartment, several cars, and is working on his own line of custom carbon fiber aftermarket parts. My other two are in college, but DS seems driven to succeed without it. He can always go later if he changes his mind.

Just to clarify, my son is not a drug user, he has a decent GPA (not outstanding, but decent) but college is just not for him. His father and I both have college degrees and his older brother has one more year before he graduates from college. Thanks for the suggestions so far. I just remembered that my neighbor is an electrician so I'm going to talk to him about that career field. And great idea about encouraging and helping him to eventually start his own business. As far as the military that's a good suggestion but it's not something he is interested in.

What does he like? Construction, health care, food service, retail, child care, auto maintenance, sports, animals, travel, being outdoors, military, computers?

I would encourage him to do "something to earn and something to learn"--any job and any training. It almost doesn't matter if he likes it. If he doesn't like it, that's an opportunity to narrow down what fields or types of jobs he is interested in pursuing.

Union training programs, Job Corps, Americorps, City Year, the military, and Year Up may able be worth looking into.

If he's in OK shape and isn't a regular drug user, then how about the military? They have various kinds of training and it provides a sense of community - even if there's a group of 18 year olds complaining about the same thing.

Electrician. My neighbors (both big law attorneys) tried to talk me out of law school and suggested this and I wished I had listened. You can make great money. He will be absolutely fine in a trade. If you can help him establish his own business down the line, please do so.

Plans could change but as of now, my rising senior will not be going to a traditional college after high school. Has anyone been in this situation? I'm looking for ideas to explore with him, training programs, vocational programs, trade school, etc. He doesen't really know what he wants to do so I'd like to be able to provide him with some good options that we can discuss together and figure out what would be the best fit. So far he is talking about plumbing. This is fine if it's what he really wants but I think he's saying plumbing because it's the idea his school counselor talked to him about. I want him to know there are other things to consider as well. I welcome any suggestions or ideas.