A four-year degree and a trade apprenticeship are both real roads. Pick the one you’ll actually walk.

Both of those lead to a working life, a wage and a skill, and the ranking people put on them is mostly about status. One has you earning while learning and the other has you paying while learning, and which is better depends on you, the trade, the degree and the money.

Find out what each option looks like near you: what the apprenticeship pays, what the course costs, who is hiring. Talk to somebody two years into each. Choose with those numbers in front of you rather than with other people’s opinions.