The process by which Americans leave high school and move into college or careers demands a redesign. If we stick to our current methods, we are leaving much of the next generation on the sidelines. There are clear warning signs: college enrollment has declined significantly since 2010, about 50% of new college graduates land jobs that don’t require a degree, and nearly 90% of employers are hesitant to hire them. How many of you, like me, have young adult children, nieces, or nephews who are underemployed? And that’s just among those attending college.
Most American adults (62%) do not hold a four-year degree, underscoring the urgent need for pathways that work for everyone. How many of you, like me, have young adult children, nieces, or nephews who are underemployed? And that’s just among those attending college.
The reason for this breakdown is no surprise: the world has changed, but career preparation has not kept pace. I wrote my new book, Who Needs College, Anymore? because I believe we are on the cusp of a new era, where we are beginning to realize that the four-year degree is not the only path to the American Dream. Other routes, like apprenticeships, short-term credentials, and bootcamps, remain underfunded, under-evaluated, and under-advocated.
Change is possible — especially if, like me, you are an optimist. While some policy updates are needed to modernize funding and regulatory frameworks, the real opportunity lies in employers and colleges working together to create a “stepladder” approach to education. This model allows earners and learners to pursue shorter stints in higher education, gaining workplace skills and building their earning power, with the flexibility to move in and out of college or training programs as needed.
What the Modern System Looks Like
Consider the story of Patrick from Chantilly, Va., who earned industry certifications in high school to catapult himself to a six-figure salary as a software engineer by age 23, without a college degree. At his high school in northern Virginia, students could choose from about 20 industry-recognized certification electives, including IT, cybersecurity, and healthcare. Patrick earned Network+ and A+ data security certifications, which helped him secure a job at Amazon Web Services (AWS) the summer after graduation.
Take Naarai in Denver, Colorado. Concerned about taking on college debt, she found a youth apprenticeship at Pinnacol, an insurance company that offers part-time roles for teenagers to explore the industry. She excelled as an underwriter and eventually transitioned to a full-time position at the company.
Patrick’s and Naarai’s stories raise an important question — one I posed to a room of employers during a recent talk at the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce: “Would you hire an 18-year-old for a professional role?”
To my surprise, most of the room said “Yes!” “It’s a good way to try before you buy,” one employer remarked. “It’s a more targeted way to get the skills you need,” another added. “We can have them upskill as needed,” a third noted.
A Role for Employers to Lead
This points to three actions employers can take to help build a modern career preparation and training system. Not to eliminate college degrees, but to provide learners and employers with a broader range of options and the agility needed in a fast-changing world.
1) We need more industry certifications and credentialing by employer groups.
Employers and job applicants find industry certifications to be a powerful hiring tool. However, based on my rough estimates, certifications are available for only about 30% of professional job roles, and often in fields where a license is required, such as health care or food safety, or IT and cybersecurity, where technical skills are easier to assess.
Certifications and credentials are best designed through industry associations and chambers of commerce. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s T3 Innovation Network has been a leader in bringing employers together to help them identify and match with workers who possess relevant skills by using emerging technologies like AI.
2) Employers should embrace apprenticeships or other work-based learning with high schools, community colleges, and universities to discover and test out talent as early and often as possible.
Colleges, like Reach University, and intermediaries, such as CareerWise and CityWorks, are stepping into the game to help. Several states are increasing their assistance for apprenticeships. Under the new administration’s budget proposal, 10% of certain state block grants would be designated for funding apprenticeships. Employers who utilize apprenticeships realize an average return on investment of $1.47 for every $1 invested.
3) Colleges can move to a step ladder approach, and employers can lean in to help them.
More than a hundred community colleges are designing “micro-pathways” with their regional employers. These are 4-6-month long programs that stacks skills-based micro-credentials to prepare for specific job roles (these usually include “soft” or durable skills training). In rural Colorado, community colleges have used micro-pathways to address shortages of social workers and therapists by joining forces with the healthcare industry and regulators to create a new entry-level job category in behavioral health. In Phoenix, community colleges surveyed employers to determine their most pressing talent pipeline needs and designed micro-pathways to develop, for example, entry-level precision optics and data analytics employees, and IT help desk workers.
Innovation is often driven by those employers who can’t fill their job roles, and colleges that are losing enrollment. We see that happening. We’ll also see colleges creating more certificate programs now that “Workforce Pell” has been passed by Congress, which will allow learners to use federal student aid for short-term training. The key to success is for colleges and employers to create and maintain agile design channels with each other. To communicate the changing skill needs, support ways to train even as AI diminishes the need for interns and entry-level knowledge workers, and to rally around industry-wide certifications across all fields.
About the author
Kathleen deLaski
Kathleen deLaski is the author of "Who Needs College, Anymore?" and founder of the Education Design Lab. She also serves as senior advisor to the Harvard Project on Workforce.
