The high school gym swirled with blue-and-white graduation gowns and glittering dreams. Some seniors had won university scholarships. Others were counting on springboarding from community college to a four-year degree.

But for a good number of the 18-year-olds here and at graduations across the country, there was no golden ticket to higher education. This was it for teachers and books: a hard-won diploma, a handshake from the principal, a walk offstage and into real life.

What kind of American dream lies ahead?

Nearly all make this calculation well aware that in a fast-changing economy, college is the surest shot at a better-paying job.

Some 30 percent of this year’s three million graduating seniors will not go straight to college, a number that is ticking up as an improving economy draws more graduates directly to work. They go to Walmarts and to welding shops, restaurants, salons, hospitals and construction sites, to start careers on the tougher side of the vast economic and cultural divide that is demarcated by a college degree.