If I were a young man, and I was not in the top quartile, or really, top decile, of my high school class, I would be looking real hard at getting into a good trade, rather than going to college. There's nice money in being an electrician, a plumber, a welder, a mechanic. It's relatively low stress, and you leave your work behind when you punch out. Much better than putting yourself massively into debt to try to get a degree of increasing uselessness, particularly if you don't have the grades or the brains to get into and be able to hack a good school and a tough program. I've known too many people that really weren't ready or equipped to go to college, but got pushed along by guidance counselors and the "Everybody goes to college" rhetoric, and the only result was them racking up tens of thousands in debt and dropping out after a semester or two.

The other traditional option for those that aren't really cut out for higher education is the military, but they are starting to tighten up again, as I understand from my friends that are still in.