Rory Fogg was just one semester into his university degree when he decided to pull the pin.
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The pandemic had moved his entire agriculture course online and he quickly realised learning through a computer screen wasn't his thing.
"My brain just doesn't work that way," Mr Fogg said.
Within weeks of dropping out, he began looking into vocational courses, which he felt might offer him a "more hands-on" education.
When he started a Diploma of Agriculture at the Wagga TAFE campus in 2021, Mr Fogg unknowingly joined a growing trend.
In other news
The latest census data has revealed Wagga students are turning away from university degrees in favour of trades and vocational courses.
In 2021, about 10 per cent of Wagga residents were completing vocational courses offered by TAFE and private training providers, up from just 7.8 per cent in 2016.
Over the same timeframe, the proportion of Wagga residents studying at university has dropped from 15 per cent down to 14.2 per cent.
Mr Fogg said other students probably felt the same as him, enjoying the benefits of fee-free courses and more personalised learning.
"I've found it a lot easier now to build a relationship with my teacher and that means it has been easier for them to help me," he said.
"The pandemic made everything so much harder to do at university but I think I would've eventually made the same choice anyway."
Richard O'Connell, the careers advisor at Mater Dei Catholic College, said more and more school leavers are being drawn to vocational education due to the job opportunities.
He said there has been a big increase in the number of apprenticeships and traineeships popping up across Wagga.
"There's a lot of confidence from students that they can choose to go down a non-ATAR pathway and there will be some really viable employment opportunities at the end of it," Mr O'Connell said.
The transition comes at a time when Wagga is grappling with a crippling skills shortage, as employers struggle to fill vacancies across multiple key industries.
Regional Development Australia's Riverina chief executive officer Rachel Whiting was glad to see more Wagga students embracing trades, but said it probably still wouldn't be enough to ease the shortage.
"It shows the initiatives that have launched to encourage people to study vocational education are working but we still just don't have enough people here," she said.
"The bigger issue is there's just not enough people to fill the positions. We need more housing so more people can move here and get the jobs."
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