I'm surprised at the percentage of university/college grads in the poll. I'm not sure what associate is (I'm Canadian), but I am one of the three who put trade school, as I got a 2 year diploma at a technical college. It seems like there is a good possibility of a large income from many trade professions, and not always from a 4 yr degree, so I thought with some of the higher incomes around here there'd be more trades/highschool only. And the reasons I never went to university even 20 years ago were related to my mustachian upbringing/nature. I was debt adverse, frugal (broke), and didn't want to just follow the trend of my peers. I took all the highest level classes at highschool and I'm sure 95% of my classmates went onto university. It just didn't make sense at the time, and I'm glad I went the way I did. I lucked into an easy, well-paid job, because of the college course I picked at 19, plus my innate strengths and work ethnic.
So, it just seems interesting to see most people here took a different approach.