A strong case can be made, i think, for people who are struggling with the cost of education, to consider trades, now more than ever. especially in electrical. Trades people are aging pretty significantly as a group, and there is going to be a surge in electrical that will need lots of people. This is true in general, but especially electrical. I went to college when it was cheap and so there really wasn't much of a concern. If i were a young person now, i doubt i could afford it, and trades would likely be a big win for me. Many a day, even now, i wake up and wish i had taken that path.
My tradespeople relatives; uncles, my brother, etc... tell me they wish they had gone to college. My brother actually did and went from a (quite good from what I could tell) general contractor to an engineer (not the software kind). He couldn't believe that he could get a day off work and still get paid for it, and he got health insurance for the first time in his life. They also make money that's much more in line with the national averages (like $60K/year; a number that would be scoffed at here) than the wild several hundred thousand dollar fantasies I see people here engage in.
And yet if you look at teachers, parents and the general milieu, there is an idea that everyone should go to college, and that going into the trades or working immediately after completing highschool makes you lesser than.
