A curious theme emerged during the first two nights of the Democratic National Convention: an emphasis on the need to create well-paying careers for people who don't earn a bachelor's degree.
“College should not be the only way to access the middle class,” former President Obama proclaimed Tuesday. “We need to follow the example of governors like Tim Walz, who have said that if you have the right skills and motivation, you shouldn’t need a degree to work in state government.”
He was referring to an executive order Walz signed in October 2023, eliminating college degree requirements for state government jobs that don’t really require one. (To be fair, it was former President Trump who kicked off the initiative with a similar executive order for federal jobs in June 2020.)
On the first day of the convention, President Biden touted the CHIPS and Science Act, legislation that encourages investment in nanotechnology and clean energy, noting that companies are building massive new chip manufacturing factories that provide good-paying jobs, “and you don’t need a college degree.”
The idea that not everyone wants or needs a college degree is gaining political traction. After years of the “college for all” movement, it’s about time.
A July 2024 poll by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation found that a majority of Americans question the value and cost of college. Only 36% said they had a high level of confidence in college, down from 57% in 2015. On average, one American college closes every week.
College has value, and on average, college graduates earn significantly more than those with less education. But it's not for everyone; people have different skills and talents to offer society that sometimes don't fit well into classroom expectations.
More than 30% of four-year college students don't finish their degree within six years, which usually means they leave without a bachelor's degree, having spent time and money with nothing to show for it. And more than 40% of graduates are underemployed in jobs that don't actually require a bachelor's degree.
Of course, convention speeches are all about pep talk and short on detail. Now that Democrats have signaled this is a priority, it's time to start talking about the details of how the nation will get there. There are some clear paths worth considering.
White Collar Learnings: The United States needs to do more than just pay lip service to the apprenticeship route to high-paying white-collar jobs. For that, look no further than Switzerland, where most students spend the last two years of high school attending classes part-time and training in paid part-time internships in fields that here typically require bachelor's degrees.
Think of bank executives, hotel resort managers, human resources and marketing staff, financial analysts and middle managers. They may need a year of extra training afterwards, but then they enter well-paid careers, with no debt and money in the bank.
A Denver philanthropist has launched a program modeled after the one in Switzerland, but it is a small program and, despite significant growth, its reach is limited. In addition, the Chicago Apprentice Network, a consortium of companies, has become an apprenticeship program for community college students.
These types of apprenticeship programs involve broad public-private partnerships that require structure, funding and a push from the U.S. Department of Education.
More help for community colleges and their students: Just because a bachelor's degree isn't required doesn't mean many students are prepared for the workforce after high school. Community colleges play the largest role in preparing students for well-paying employment through associate degree programs and short-term certificates that allow them to enter fields as diverse as video game design, avionics, and horse shoeing. Nearly 30% of people with a two-year associate degree earn more than the average bachelor's degree holder.
These universities offer low-cost education for students and taxpayers; they need more funding to provide students with the courses and financial aid to learn the skills for their chosen careers without having to work full-time while trying to succeed in their classes.
Better training for school counselors: For the past 30 years, school counselors have been under intense pressure to send more students to four-year colleges. As a result, most counselors don't know enough about other paths for students who aren't college-bound, beyond the skilled trades and the military.
Both can be good options, but there are many more: entrepreneurship, creative careers, service industry work, healthcare, travel, and outdoor occupations are just a few. Rarely do you know of employers who are open to hiring people without a college degree, although many more employers fall into that category.
All of these programs will cost taxpayers money, but they are worth it. The funding will pay for itself many times over in the form of fewer student loan defaults and a generation of financially more stable, employed young people who don't feel like failures because four years of study after high school wasn't for them.
