Tanner Stellmar of Poland demonstrates using an oxygen / fuel-cutting torch inside of the preapprentice training site next to Ironworkers Local 207 in Boardman.

As the cost of higher education continues to skyrocket, more and more students are opting to forego college in favor of entering the skilled trades.

Ohio’s enrollment in public universities and community colleges has seen a 12 percent decrease over the years from 527,190 in fall 2012 to 462,949 in 2022, according to statistics from the Ohio Department of Higher Education.

Youngstown State University, for example, has recently seen a dip in enrollment, from 11,800 students in fall 2020 compared to 11,000 in 2022. The previous fall semester at YSU saw a 4 percent decrease in full-time students. That’s a trend that has been seen over the past few years, according to a memo from Brien N. Smith, YSU provost and vice president for academic affairs.

While university enrollments are declining, area trade schools and apprenticeship programs have seen a rise in popularity as the demand for skilled workers grows.

Local tradesmen say the shift is due, in part, to the high cost of college, which has left many students saddled with debt and struggling to find work in their chosen fields. By contrast, trades such as plumbing, electrical work and carpentry offer stable, well-paying jobs. Schooling focuses on the trade while eschewing liberal arts courses.

The growing trend has a significant impact on the economy.

NEED FOR WORKERS

According to a January 2022 report from the National Association of Business Economics, 57 percent of respondents to a business conditions survey believe there is a shortage of skilled workers.

Increasing talk about the trades in school has become a crucial focal point as an aging workforce is retiring. This is leaving a skill gap with less-experienced workers to train an influx of potential workers.

To address the issue, trade schools and apprenticeship programs are expanding their offerings and partnering with local businesses to provide students with hands-on experience and job placement opportunities.

Representatives from the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center in Canfield and the Trumbull Career and Technical Center in Champion said they are seeing great early projections for enrollment.

MCCTC Super-intendent John Zehent-bauer described the school as being flooded with applicants. Of its 430-student capacity, the school has about 600 applicants seeking placement in one of the center’s 21 programs for secondary education and four adult education programs.

The enrollment growth is just as high at TCTC. According to Superintendent Jason Gray and director Paula Baco, the school’s programs are filled to capacity.

STRIKE WHILE HOT

Hubbard native Tony DiTommaso has seen generations of his family in the trades. He is Carpenters Local 171 president and senior representative of the carpenters and joiners union. His father was a carpenter who started DiTommaso and Son Construction company, and three of his brothers have entered the apprenticeship program and later became journeymen. One of them started a contracting company of his own.

With demand growing in the skilled trades, DiTommaso suggests striking while the iron is hot with recruitment efforts to attract more to the industry. Rather than waiting for the students to reach high school, he believes introducing the concept of joining a trade from as early as middle school age is one of the best ways to bolster the workforce.

“Our average age of apprentices is 27, but we’re getting more interest from the high school students and newly graduated that we haven’t seen in decades,” DiTommaso said.

He’s noticed a shift in the efforts of building trades and other crafts in how they go about attracting workers.

“We’re getting more hands-on with our examples of what we do in our craft for students so that they can see what their future could potentially look like,” DiTommaso said.

Last year, he said the Mahoning Valley Skilled Trades Expo attracted about 5,000 area students from high schools and middle schools who met experts to learn more about trades opportunities.

He hopes these ventures are helping people to see the need of learning basic life skills.

“We’re all going to seek shelter within a building then we’re going to have a door, possibly a window, a chair, and it’s something you’re going to need to know a little about or you’re going to pay somebody else to fix for you,” DiTommaso said.

By learning basic skills, DiTommaso paints a picture of high schoolers turning those skills into a business or a passion for a trade reflective of themselves.

“We’re trying to get it in their heads of how they can grow their skills and take it to the next level,” DiTommaso said. “Like most people including myself that got involved in a trade, then the union, we learned a craft, became journey people, become a foreman and for one reason or another decided to become business representatives to help create a future for those coming up behind us.”

EXPERIENCE GAP

The Builders Association of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, at its 53rd annual business meeting in December, reported the most manned hours in a decade. The only downside that exists is the lack of an area workforce, according to Gary Hartman, builder’s association service director.

“You can only take on so much work and do so much work before you run out of manpower,” Hartman said. “And that’s kind of what we’re seeing now.

“We’re short, across the area. I would say probably between 600 to 800 (job openings) locally. Across the nation, it’s in the millions, probably about 2 million short.”

An aging workforce is a cause for concern moving toward the future. “The average age of workers is between 46 to 47 years old,” Hartman said.

Many of those tradesmen, he said, have worked for 10 or more years but their numbers are rapidly declining to the point where he predicts that in the next five to 10 years, that workforce will be lost.

“That’s a big gap on the experience level, with what we’re trying to fill in,” Hartman said.

“For years, schools have pushed that college is everything and those universities pride themselves on having an enrollment rate. The downside is that there’s not enough workers for the skilled labor market moving into that area,” Hartman said.

Recruiting young people is something that Hartman, like DiTommasso, sees as vital. He said that 14 schools across Mahoning County have preapprentice programs.

He also noted that the Trumbull County Educational Service Center has followed suit in adapting a program of its own where students can earn 12-point, industry-recognized credentials and diploma seals. The program partners with areas schools such as Niles, Lordstown, Girard and Howland to send students to TCESC.

Hartman believes this signals a shift in the mindset.

“At the end of the day, it’s just offering other opportunities,” Hartman said. “It’s not necessarily to dissuade a kid from going to college or following a different career, just educating them about other opportunities that exist within the industry, especially in the Mahoning and Shenango Valley area.”

OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL

After graduating from Lowellville High School, Tanner Stellmar, 23. of Poland Township, was unsure of what to do next. He enrolled at YSU but quickly realized it wasn’t for him.

During his short stint in college, however, he discovered the ironworking apprenticeship program through a friend.

“My uncles and grandfather all worked in the mill over at (Vallourec Star) so I don’t want to say it was a calling. But it’s cool to go work in the same mills that my family worked in,” Stellmar said.

“We have some smart guys that have come through here and a lot of smart guys in my class that do well in high school and could’ve done very well in college but decided it wasn’t for them.”

Stellmar began his apprenticeship with the Ironworkers Local 207 in Boardman and has been working in the trade for the past few years. He already has worked on several major construction projects, including the Excellence Training Center at YSU.

His story is not unique. Young people are turning to the skilled trades as an alternative to college.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in the construction industry is projected to grow 4 percent from 2022 to 2032, adding approximately 168,500 new openings in construction each year nationwide. Projected employment is looking to reach about 1.6 million.

Learning alongside Stellmar in the program, Ryan Streb, 22, of Hubbard, was in a similar position coming out of Hubbard High School. The idea of getting a four-year degree was suggested as his next logical step.

Streb had some interest in becoming a chemistry major, but ultimately he decided against pursuing college. Instead, he picked up a trade focusing on rebar, the process of reinforcing concrete.

In the time since Streb entered the preapprenticeship program, he has worked on several major projects, including a renovation project of the stairs at Stambaugh Auditorium, where he rebarred along the front and side of the building.

“One of the good things about that job is, two years prior to that I was at that same exact spot wearing a cap and gown,” Streb said. “I was getting out of high school and then two years later, I was there redoing all that — and that was a really good moment,” Streb said.

Staying local for Streb is a big aspect of his being in the trades, hoping to be a part of helping to restore the area to where it once was decades ago.

“A lot of people forget just how big Youngstown was in the industries way back in the day,” Streb said.

“It gets forgotten about, and it’s not taught. But, I mean, we live in a place that used to be extremely great, and we’ve got to keep working on that.”