While many of his mates are facing pitiful graduate salaries and enormous HECS debts, 23-year-old Brae Harriss is laughing all the way to the bank.
That’s because he made the decision to ditch uni, and complete an apprenticeship instead – and now, he owns his own landscape construction, design, and excavation company, raking in around $2000 a week after a tough few years on an apprentice’s wages.
The Sydneysider told news.com.au the decision to forgo university, get a trade and open his own business, Bloomstone Projects, put him ahead of many of his peers.
“I’ve got my own company at 23 years old, which is quite cool, and I’ve learned a lot from that,” Mr Harriss said.
His experience reflects a growing debate among Aussies about whether university still offers the financial security and status in 2026 that it once promised.
When news.com.au recently revealed Aussie graduates were questioning whether double degrees justified the extra HECS-HELP debt, readers soon turned the story into a wider argument about the value of university versus trades.
The story sparked an outpouring of comments, with hundreds of readers joining the debate.
“What did the double arts degree major say to the plumber? Would you like fries with that?” one reader wrote.
“Degrees are worthless. Get a job in the trades,” another declared, while another claimed that “the real unemployment for university graduates is around 50 per cent and it will get worse due to AI and mass migration”.
But others rejected the uni pile on, with one responding: “Yes, who needs engineers or doctors?” while another insisted that “Australian degrees are not worthless and remain highly respected globally, particularly within the Asia-Pacific region and the Commonwealth”.
Clearly, the answer is not as simple as “degrees bad, trades good”.
Many professions still require formal qualifications and university remains the entry ticket to entire industries.
However, the financial gap between the two pathways is narrower than many Australians might expect.
Figures based on national graduate and vocational education outcomes put the average university graduate starting salary at about $71,000, compared with $67,028 for newly-qualified tradespeople.
But that average masks major differences between fields.
Electrotechnology and telecommunications trade completers recorded starting salaries of about $82,900, compared with $75,000 for graduate engineers, $74,000 for computing and information technology graduates and $73,000 for graduate lawyers.
Automotive and engineering trades averaged $73,100, while construction trades, including plumbing and carpentry, averaged $68,200. Architecture and built-environment graduates started at about $66,000.
Medicine, unsurprisingly remained one of the strongest graduate pathways, with a starting salary of about $85,000.
Apprentices generally earn far less during training, but they are paid while gaining their qualification and avoid accumulating university HECS-HELP debt.
Yet Mr Harriss said his school promoted university far more heavily than trades.
“The only way trades were pushed was through doing construction – that was the one subject that would get you work experience to do a trade,” he said, adding that trades were not for everyone, with physical strain, uncertain workloads and low apprentice wages among the disadvantages.
“The landscaping industry, or construction industry, is very, very physical,” he said.
“You’re constantly looking to get the work, so you’re always looking for work. Your body is always sore.”
Meanwhile, Theodore Papas, a 21-year-old graduate accountant from Sydney, entered the workforce on $70,000 including super after accumulating about $35,000 in HELP debt.
He said his degree helped him secure interviews – but did not make him job-ready.
“I learned more in my first month working than I did in three years at uni,” Mr Papas said.
“Universities massively oversell how ‘job-ready’ you’ll be. Most of the important stuff you learn on the job anyway.”
Employment figures also show different short-term outcomes.
The 2025 Graduate Outcomes Survey found 75.4 per cent of undergraduates were working full time about four to six months after completing their degree.
National vocational education data found 94.8 per cent of trade completers were employed after training, with 73.7 per cent working in the same occupational group as their apprenticeship or traineeship.
Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is adding another layer to the decision.
Government analysis has found manual trades and care occupations are generally among those least exposed to generative AI, while routine clerical, administrative and text-heavy jobs face greater disruption. Exposure does not necessarily mean entire professions will disappear, but parts of many white-collar roles could be automated.
Petrina Taylor, 54, a Sydney-based teacher and mother of two, said the changing labour market had altered her view of university.
“Not long ago, I would have been adamant that my child attain a university degree,” she said.
“(Now) I would suggest my 18-year-old look at various options, particularly in light of the fact that AI will take over many middle-level roles.”
Ms Taylor said HELP debt, online teaching and the cost of supporting a student had also changed the calculation.
“I do worry about my children taking on a university debt,” she said.
“I am not certain that university degrees have the same status they once did.”
For school leavers, the safest choice may no longer be the pathway carrying the greatest prestige, but the one offering the clearest employment outcome, manageable debt and genuine experience.
Now, young Aussies must assess whether they can still afford to choose status over certainty.