College Alternatives For Homeschoolers

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This post is sponsored by Bruce Cloney Door Institution. My time was compensated however all opinions or my own. 

College is typically the path that is encouraged after high school. But what if it doesn’t need to be? My husband and I find ourselves in the “you don’t need to go to college unless…” camp. Meaning, if one of our children doesn’t want to be either a doctor, lawyer, or some other specialty career, college is not necessary.

Contrary to popular belief, the reality is, a college education doesn’t equal job security, college is not a requirement to be successful, and a career path that doesn’t include college is not shameful. There’s no reason to waste time AND hundreds of thousands in student loan debt on college when there are other college alternatives available.  

College Alternatives For Homeschoolers

As I’m writing this, we have a pre-teen. However, it is not too early to have her think about the future and nurture her skills and interests. Here are 5 credible and reliable options for your teens or pre-teens.

Apprenticeship 

An apprenticeship is a learning model that is work-based. The apprentices have on-the-job training that is supervised and includes job-related education. During this program, the apprentice is paid and their wage increases the longer they are in the program.

Apprenticeships can last between 1 to 3 years and often leads to full-time employment. This is a great way for teens to learn, get paid, and enter a career.

Here are a few careers you could get with an apprenticeship:

• Construction
• Events Coordinator
• Mechanic
• Stylist
• Paralegal

Internship

An internship offers a professional learning opportunity that provides work experience in an area of your teen’s career interest. This will help your teen learn what they may or may not want to explore as a career. 

An internship is often unpaid and lasts for a shorter period of time, usually between 1 to 3 months. Unlike an apprenticeship, an internship does not always lead to full-time employment. 

Here are a few careers you could get with an internship:

• Hospitality
• Journalism
• Real Estate
• Public Relations
• Personal Assistant

Certificate Program

A certificate program is a short-term training program, typically 4-6 months, and is designed to help your teen gain skills or learn a specific topic. Earning a certificate is a shorter, affordable way to enter an industry. 

Here are a few careers you could get with a certificate:

• Photographer
• Medical Coder
• American Sign Language Interpreter
• Graphics
• Court Reporter

Entrepreneurship

Are any of your teens great at design, crafts, painting, building, selling, etc? Business opportunities are endless and becoming an entrepreneur is a great way for your homeschooler to turn their passion into profit!

A business degree is not necessary, in fact, most entrepreneurs do not have a business degree! While there are things to learn about running a business, your teen could use their knowledge and skills to start a business of their own.

Vocational/Trade School

At a typical college, you need to take prerequisites before you even start learning or taking classes that have to do with your major. The majority of prerequisite courses take at least 2 years to complete. But with a vocational or trade school, you start right away taking classes that are directly related to the field or career.  

Bruce Conley Door Institution

Bruce Conley Door Institution is a great example of a trade school that offers training in a high-demand field. Bruce has over 32 years of Automatic Door field service experience as an automatic door technician and offers online training in automatic door repair. He provides the tools students need to get an entry-level job in the field through his comprehensive course.

What’s In The Course

The types of doors that students will learn how to repair are sliding doors that you walk through in most public facilities. Think grocery stores, malls (if you have one), or hospitals. These types of doors need constant repair which makes this field recession-proof and in demand.

With a massive program of 57 individual training modules totaling over 64 hours of video, Bruce also provides 57 challenging self-quizzes after each video to test what has been learned. Modules can be easily rewound, reviewed, or paused with no hassle. 

What Does The Course Cost

There are three levels of the course and each cost around $500+:

• Program 1: Low-Energy Doors
• Program 2: Full Energy Automatic Doors
• Program 3: Sliding Doors

I highly recommend getting the complete Automatic Door Program which includes all three programs above for $1200. For that price, you are saving money and gaining a ton of knowledge and skills that could lead to a great career. 

If you’re not ready to dish out $1200, Bruce offers a free 15-minute preview of the course! This is a great way to get a sneak peek at the course to see if it’s a good fit.  

Benefits Of The Course

One of the main goals that Bruce has is “for every person who takes this course, to start day 1 of their tenure wherever that may be, with several years of knowledge already in their pocket, and miles ahead of those who do not have this training.”

Things To Consider

While this course provides a ton of knowledge, it does not provide on-the-job, hands-on experience. Because of that, your teen would need to look for opportunities to put what they have learned into action. 

My Takeaways

While the quality of the videos isn’t the best, I still think Bruce Conley Door Institutes is a great college alternative. If you have a teen who loves electronics or getting hands-on with tools and taking things apart then put them back together, this would be a great way to learn an in-demand trade and have an opportunity for a long-lasting career or business!

Are College Alternatives Worth It?

1000% yes! While this is not an all-inclusive list of college alternatives, there is no easy answer as to whether your teen should pursue college or not. That must be left up to prayer and careful consideration of the interests your teen has. Trusting God in this process is the best way to go!

How do you feel about these realistic alternatives to traditional college? 

I’d love to hear it in the comments!

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