I think if you're young and ambitious, you could bypass college or tech school. If you're willing to knock on the doors of some tradesman business owners, I bet you would not be long finding someone willing to pay you and give you on the job training. I turn wrenches and operate equipment on a farm and make $50k/yr and get offhand job offers all the time. I started doing general labor at a different farm (a big farm where I could learn things other than pulling weeds and scrubbing carrots) right out of high school and jut made it known that I craved knowledge and experience. 10 years later, I'm pretty happy with my gig.

Also, consider your interest in living in a rural community. I know all kinds of folks from rural Maine that ran downtown Portland or Boston after college to get high paying jobs as insurance salesman or whatever and have painted themselves into a suburban corner because they can't get an equivalent salary in the country.