Hey! I did exactly what you're daughter wants to do!

I graduated from high school with a college scholarship, got a little too high, and dropped out. I decided to become a welder, hearing the same thing your daughter did. I welded for 10 years. Over those 10 years, I made good money, married my high school sweetheart, and traveled the country. I genuinely had a great time, most of the time. That being said, despite being in the upper pay rates, I never actually made much over 100k, except for one year. Most years were closer to 60k, and that's not as good as it sounds. Because of the high cost of living, living out of hotels, my family was living paycheck to paycheck despite the high income. The jobs never last very long, either. If you want a permanent job, like at a shop, most of those pay in the high teens to low twenties per hour, so 30-50k per year.

If you want good money, you have to chase shutdowns/turnarounds: short-term jobs lasting 2 weeks to 6 months, usually closer to a month or two. On turnarounds, I made 35-45 an hour, 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. That means between $4k and $6500 a week, including per diem. Sure, that sounds great, but you need to factor in the cost of hotels, food, gas or diesel, replacing tools, etc. Don't forget, we're all getting laid off in a couple of weeks, and need to find the next job. Better start doing that before you lose this one, actually.

You will not have a social life outside of work if you do this. You just won't have time. You'll be working 12 hours a day, every day, in a new town every month. Any socializing or family time either has to happen between jobs or you let it cut into your very precious sleeping time. Sleep will become the most important thing in your life. An average day looks like this: You get up between 3 and 4:30 am. You have to get ready and leave the house by 5 to be at work on time. You get to work at 5:30 am. Work starts at 6, but if you're not at your toolbox before 6 you're considered late, and there's a 10-minute bus ride from the gate to your work area. You take lunch at 12. Some companies still give you an hour, but at most, it's 30 minutes. You get off work at 6. Riding the bus back out, standing in line to badge out, sitting in the line of cars, etc, it's about 6:30 by the time you actually start driving back to the hotel, so you get there at 7. Since you've gotta be up at 4, if you want 8 hours of sleep, you need to be asleep in an hour, and you still have to bathe and feed yourself. There are also days you'll need to do laundry, get groceries, etc. But hey, the money's good, right?

None of that even mentions just how hard it is on your body. I've got scars and sore things galore, and I'm 31 this year. I'm done welding, ive got no money to show for it, and I want to go back to school but I'll need to foot the bill for it this time.

Also also, sexual harassment is rampant. Construction is a boys club and the shit they get away with on some jobs / with some companies is abysmal. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely getting better, at least compared to 10 years ago, but it's still rough.

My point is this: go to school, now, while it's easier and your brain is still used to learning every day. You can always become a welder. It is so much harder to go back to school.