From traditional universities to the skilled trades industries, life after high school is different for all graduates.

In recent years, the rising cost of a college education has seen more turn to vocational trade schools where hiring is often immediate and opportunities are plenty without going into debt.

One of those schools is the Gratiot-Isabella Career Technical Center in Mount Pleasant.

They also have a campus in Alma.

3D printing, culinary arts, mechanics, those are just a few of the nearly two dozen programs offered with some students getting paid in their future careers before they've even graduated.

- Now keep your finger on the red button.

- I walked into that small engine class freshman year not knowing how to turn a wrench at all, and I went from not being able to turn a wrench to doing all this stuff in auto and machines that I do now.

And it's just, there's so many more opportunities down here.

- [Stefanie] The sounds of drilling and cutting echo throughout classrooms at the GI Tech Center in Mount Pleasant.

Enrollment here in its skilled trade schools across the country continues to climb in record numbers.

- There is something educational chaos on a daily basis.

I mean, that's what we have here.

At the tech center, at GI Tech specifically, we have two campuses, both in Mount Pleasant and Alma.

We have about 20 CTE programs that basically on a daily basis, kids can really immerse themself into career and tech ed.

Anything from accounting and business to machine trades in the trading industry to building a schoolhouse.

- [Stefanie] Vocation education in the US isn't new, but it's changed a lot since the early days of wood chop class.

This campus has been here since about the 1960s, and today serves not just students in Mount Pleasant, but also surrounding schools, including Ashley, Ithaca, Breckenridge, and St. Louis.

The programs are organized into five core groups, and students can work towards certificates and college credit.

- You look at computer science, you look at the skilled trades, those two areas are absolutely booming.

Not to mention some of the different things that are coming up with AI, and drones, and VR, and all of our programs are using 'em.

You look at our auto class, for example, you can't just pop a hood in the car anymore and just basically grab a wrench.

You better grab your diagnostic computer system.

In our machine trades you better know CNC, you better know 3D modeling, you better know, you know, way to code.

So every of those things, those fields particular, super hot.

The great thing is too, we always talk about, we're preparing kids sometimes too, for jobs that they don't even know exist yet.

- [Stefanie] With state-of-the-art equipment, industry professional instructors and partnerships with local college institutions, director Pat Onstott says they're preparing students for a seamless transition in whatever fields they choose when they enter the workforce or a four year university.

- We wanna have post-secondary representation, and I can name a few people that have been absolutely invaluable to help us make sure our programs are headed in the right direction.

Particularly when it comes to going to the post-secondary or CMU, we have what's called articulation credit.

And articulation credit is, we have a number of college and universities who have agreed upon that, yes, the standards that we're teaching here right in the tech center will satisfy college credit when you get to that next level.

So kids are coming in, starting off with already six, seven, eight, 10, 12 credits.

Particularly at CMU, I know that on our educational careers class, it's a great start going into that teaching profession.

So she's got a partnership with them where the students, because of the experience they've heard earned here at the tech center, they actually already had a jumpstart on their classmates at CMU.

- [Stefanie] Not every student comes into the tech center with experience, and that's okay.

Through class and lab work, teachers meet their students where they're at to help them figure out what speaks to them through hands-on work.

- We work on everything from chainsaws to Harley-Davidsons and snowmobiles, side-by-side, basically all the fun stuff, all the toys.

I don't just teach 'em small engines.

I mean, we do a lot of that's hands-on stuff, stuff that they can use for the rest of their lives, whether they choose to go into this industry or not.

You know, just things like reading a tape measure.

I mean, we spend a lot of time reading tape measures.

You'd be surprised at how many people can't read a tape measure, you know.

Other measuring instruments, micrometers, calipers, things like that, you know, but to prepare them, you know, for the outside world, really, it's, you know, hey show up here, I expect 'em to be here on time, which is a big issue in the workforce today, you know.

So we work on that, just kind of prepping them for any career, how to dress, how to talk to people.

Communication's a big part of our job.

You know, you gotta talk to customers about, you know, what work needs to be performed on their machine, be able to talk on the phone with people to sell parts to, to purchase parts, things like that.

So a lot of things that translate just to the real world.

- Well, again, the curriculum's based on what industry professionals have told me that they wanted, that's part of, how I see it, as part of my job to go around and meet with different machine shops and, you know, floor foreman and stuff and ask 'em what they want in a entry level, you know, employee.

And we have a, I dunno, good, bad or otherwise, but we have such a shortage in machine shops and manufacturing in general right now that if I can get 'em any info and just willing to work, they already have a job.

They don't know it yet, but there's already a job waiting for 'em.

So it's kind of cool for 'em in that aspect.

Not that great in our society is, you know, concerned, but as far as high schoolers leaving to either go to further education or the workforce, there's opportunities like crazy right now.

- [Stefanie] On STAT acknowledges that the stigmas associated with these industries in the past kept money away.

But these days, the earning potential for entry-level jobs in some fields are significant for both men and women, along with more stable careers.

- Right now, you look at the wages of a starting electrician, an average wage is $60,000 without any college debt, a plumber, a welding person, whether you're doing a top end stuff, if you really want to get into like the underwater welding, things of that nature, you can make a lot of money.

- I think it's such a cool opportunity that we have.

There's so many different like programs here.

If I wanted to switch outta machine trades and just go into cosmetology, I absolutely could.

It's just, it's so cool, it's so expansive.

It's very neat.

- I am learning like CAD programs, which I would have learned in this class, so that's pretty cool.

Me and my friend, we were just recently working on the CNC machine, and we like made like a brake caliper on that.

And so, yeah, it's been really cool to do that.

- [Stefanie] While vocational education may not be for everyone, those thriving within these walls are finding their passion bit by bit.

- We got so much here to offer.

I mean, whether you wanna build a house or, you know, build the components that we put our engines together with, you know, give it a shot.

If you don't like it, try something else.

You're gonna find something that you're gonna learn and use for the rest of your life, and that you might find out that you enjoy and it changes your life.

- I think the great thing about the techs and the popularity is because it's individualized.

I love the fact that popularity is when a student finds their passion, when they find what they want to do.

Some students might not be able tot a horn or bounce a ball, but they can turn a wrench, they can code, they can be phenomenal in front of people when it comes to speaking or doing a business application.

So the popularity is basically, I think, individualized, that's what I love about it.