By Taylor Johnson
When Danielle Moore attended the Mixed Institute in Sacramento, she and her classmates weren’t carrying backpacks full of college textbooks.
Instead of an essay, their teacher allowed them to pick an aspect of hair care.
As Moore approached her mannequin, she decided to practice pixie cuts. So she picked up her scissors, awaiting the day’s first client.
While some Black students enroll at local community colleges and universities to pursue degrees, others like Moore are choosing to pick up hairbrushes, a hammer or welding machine.
“I think that people are going towards more training schools because at a four-year college sometimes you hear stories about how they graduated and couldn’t use their degree,” Moore says. “Whether it’s cosmetology, electrician, barbering, construction, medical assisting, it’s a quicker way to get yourself progressed in life into a trade school rather than going to a four-year college.”
Moore says she has done hair since her teens and wished she pursued it upon graduating high school. She previously attended Highlands Community Charter School, where Mixed Institute was one of its career and technical education partners, providing training in cosmetology, barbering, and other beauty professions. She had researched the Black-owned-and-operated cosmetology school for a couple of years before deciding to apply.
Through her studies, Moore has not only learned hair styling but nails, facials, waxing, lashes and makeup. Students also learn about running a business, as well such things as how to start an LLC, managing business credit and creating social media accounts for your business.
“I actually enjoy meeting the different ladies,” Moore says. “From a stay-at-home mom, to a coroner, to another business owner, there’s just a variety of people that I serve. It has prepared me for when I leave here and the different people that I have to deal with in the future.”
Having graduated in November, she plans to volunteer with one of the owners of Mixed Institute who also owns a hair salon to learn more about the shops in the field before eventually moving to Santa Clara to take over her aunt’s hair shop.
According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, since spring 2020 enrollment for trade-focused institutions has increased by around 20%. Some contribute this to the price difference between trade-focused institutions and traditional universities.
Average tuition at a four-year university ranged from $9,800-$18,200 a year while a two-year program at a trade school cost $4,000-$16,200 during the 2022-23 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
In addition, the Trump administration’s Big Beautiful Bill in 2026 eliminates loan programs like the Graduate PLUS. The Department of Education also set new caps for other loans, making it more difficult for students to fund their full cost of attendance. Those caps are $20,500 a year for graduate students or $100,000 over a lifetime, and $50,000 a year for professional students or $200,000 over a lifetime.
Some students in high school have differing opinions.
Tre’Amor Byrd, a senior at Florin High School, participates in the school’s automotive technology program, a career and technical education course through Elk Grove Unified School District that helps students learn about car maintenance. Byrd says he always was interested in cars and wanted to look into jobs based on that interest before he found Florin High’s program.
“I felt that this would be good for me because it will actually help me in the future,” he says.
Byrd plans to go to junior college, where he says he’ll learn skills similar to those he would learn at a more expensive trade school.
Elijah York, a senior in Sheldon High School’s Building Trades program, does intend to pursue trade school after he graduates. York entered trades wanting to learn more with his hands.
“I think it is important for more Black students to consider taking up trades because many of the trades can teach life lessons while also helping to diversify the trade fields,” he says.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black people are underrepresented in almost all trades, with only around 6% of construction workers, 11% manufacturers, and 8% working in utilities identifying as Black.
Matthew Lewis, a 34-year-old student at Universal Technical Institute, also decided to pursue a trade instead of going to a traditional university.
Lewis says other career paths haven’t panned out the way he’d hoped. He had tried out for semipro basketball teams and went to school for computer engineering. He also landed a five-year career with the Army’s intelligence community, but ultimately chose something down the line that followed his father’s career path.
“I ended up choosing the heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration trade due to its high complexity and daily challenges,” Lewis says. “I wanted a career that couldn’t easily be phased out to artificial intelligence, but was also challenging enough to make every day something new because challenges excite me and I don’t shy away from them.”
Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a study that concluded AI can replace 11.7% of the U.S. labor market, or around $1.2 trillion in wages across finance, health care and other professional services.
In addition, Challenger, Gray and Christmas—a global outplacement and executive coaching firm—reported job cuts for October totaling about 153,100, which is a 183% surge from September and 175% higher than the same time last year. Also, it was the highest level for any October since 2003.
They attributed the highest cuts to within the technology sector due to companies’ restructuring amid AI integration, slower demand, and efficiency pressures.
Lewis says he is happy he made the decision to pursue a trade, for himself and his children.
“I will be able to teach my children so that when something happens or needs to be done, they can do it themselves or they will be the ones others call on and look to for help,” he says.