As college becomes increasingly expensive and financial aid becomes more difficult to get, the newest batch of high school graduates are starting to explore other options. Young teens are looking to their future, and some, like 19-year-old Kevin Estrada, see their future under the hood of a car as a mechanic.

“I just really want to get a good paying job doing what I enjoy and what I enjoy doing, I guess,” Estrada told KPIX. “I’d like to make a future for myself.”

He’s a San Jose, California, student of an automotive mechanic program that recruits high school students and trains them to be technicians. Once they graduate from the program, they’re often hired at local dealerships to start climbing the ladder.

The program, despite being around for over 30 years, has seen a dramatic spike in attendance in the last few years as more young students become interested in the automotive field.

There’s so much demand for the mechanic program that classes are waitlisted

Mark Bernbeck, one of the program’s leaders, says the demand for the automotive classes is so high that he had to put students on a waitlist.

“There is a waitlist now,” he said. “There seems to be a resurgence of people getting into [the mechanic field]. The message has gotten out that wages have gone up.”

With new technology, he said, the demand for new mechanic students has also grown—especially as more EVs and hybrids become mainstream.

“The technology is changing, so we come up with more courses to cover that,” he continued.

Students are learning first-hand what it means to work on cars

Estrada was recently recruited by a local Honda dealership in Stevens Creek. Managers promised a high wage as long as a mechanic if he worked hard to get his certifications and took advantage of the flat rate system. They said he starts at $40,000 but can make up to $150,000.

Rich Pimentel, the parts and service director at Stevens Creek Honda, acknowledged Kevin’s hard work as a mechanic and said he’d continue to keep the program running to give students a chance to thrive.

“We’ll keep this program up for years to come,” he said.

Kevin is happy for the opportunity to flourish in an environment, the mechanic’s environment he’s comfortable with.

“I’m just preparing myself so I don’t have to worry in the future,” he said.