Vocations · Career Exploration · Pathways

Apprenticeship,
degree or a job now:
run the years.

Add the pathways you are weighing with their training time, cost and pay. The tool runs each one year by year and shows when it pays back and which leads.

Compare my pathwaysWhat you get

The career pathway comparison tool

The worked example weighs four pathways after high school. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

Vocations · Career ExplorationAlso for Vocations · Job SkillsFree

What you finish with
Each pathway’s earnings less training cost over the years you choose, the year its running total turns positive and which leads, pathway by pathway. It prints as a summary and downloads as a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
High school students choosing what comes next, adults weighing a career change, families, and school counselors running the numbers with a student.
Format
Browser comparison for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Career Exploration space in Caveat Vocations; also listed for Job Skills (same title, same comparison for career changers).
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Add each pathway you are weighing.
  2. Look up starting pay in the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
  3. Enter training cost after grants.
  4. Add pay while training for apprenticeships.
  5. Set the years to compare, then weigh the rest.

Compare my pathways

How the pathways are compared

Same clock, every pathway, year by year.

The worked example: an electrician apprenticeship, one of four pathwaysTraining yearspay in training$38,000 as an apprenticeThen$62,000grown 3% a yearLess$6,000training cost15 years$940,083after costsThe worked example: an electrician apprenticeship, one of four pathwaysTraining yearspay in training$38,000 as an apprenticeThen$62,000grown 3% a yearLess$6,000training cost15 years$940,083after costs
Every pathway is run year by year on the same clock, so training time and cost both count.

Year by year

Every pathway starts in year one. During training it earns the pay in training, which is zero for most full-time school and a real wage for an apprenticeship. After training it earns the starting pay, grown each year by the raise.

After costs

The training cost comes off the top, so the running total starts below zero. The year it turns positive is when the pathway has paid for itself. The totals are before taxes and not discounted, which keeps the comparison simple and even.

Sources

  1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook: pay, education and job outlook by occupation (bls.gov/ooh).
  2. U.S. Department of Labor. Apprenticeship.gov: registered apprenticeship, earn while you learn (apprenticeship.gov).
  3. U.S. Department of Education. College Scorecard: costs and earnings by program (collegescorecard.ed.gov).
  4. O*NET Resource Center, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. O*NET OnLine occupation profiles (onetonline.org).

The worked example’s pay and costs are examples, not quoted wages. Your entries stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.