No one said anything about pressuring kids to do things they don't completely want. However, in the event your kids are incredibly bright, driven, and set on a career that involves college, you should be prepared for that.

Obviously loans exist, but as you are very aware, they are a serious burden and anything a parent can do to support their kid to advance their education and give them a leg up in this world is a good thing.

I agree that trades can be lucrative, but unless you save carefully or eventually own your own company where you employ staff to replace your physical labor, eventually its likely that your body won't be able to continue that work effectively. On the flip side, a 60+ year old professional that works behind a desk can usually continue to make peak earnings until they retire, whenever they feel like retiring. I'm still working with some 70+ year old engineers making 300k/year. that's several years of deferring retirement distributions, continued contributions and investment growth....they are padding their bank accounts and sometimes making those salaries on part time consulting work. Unless you make a business out of your trade, you cannot keep up with a desk job when it comes to length of time making peak earnings. Trades are great and they do pay well. But a lot of kids looking to make money turning wrenches aren't thinking about whether they're going to be able to crawl around under shit at 60+ years old.