University Degrees not Required

Skyrocketing tuition and crippling student loan debt have millions of parents and students wondering whether college is even worth it anymore, as companies reconsider hiring requirements.

Major companies such as Google, Tesla, and IBM have dropped the requirement for college degrees, as college enrollment continues to drop.

According to a Harvard Business Review and Emsi Burning Glass survey released recently, the companies are dropping the requirements for many middle-skill and even higher-skill roles. More than 51 million jobs posted between 2017 and 2020 were analysed for the study.

This move by the companies reverses the so-called “degree inflation” trend that picked up steam after the Great Recession in which many employers began adding degree requirements to job descriptions that hadn’t previously needed them — even though the actual jobs hadn’t changed.

In place of four-year degree requirements, many companies are instead focusing on skill-based hiring to widen the talent pool.

“Around 70 per cent of high school graduates at peak, i.e., around 2,017 went straight to college. Now, we’re about down to 63 per cent and the decline is even sharper in many states,” said Jon Marcus, a senior editor at Hechinger Report, a nonprofit publication, covering inequality and innovation in education.

From 2010 to 2020, the annual enrollment at postsecondary institutions has fallen more than 14 per cent in America. In real terms, that’s four million fewer students, compared with 10 years ago. The greatest decline is in the Northeast and Midwest, where birth rates are flat — meaning fewer students are coming out of high school. But the biggest reason why admission numbers are declining is the soaring tuition cost.

It’s not a secret that for decades the cost of college has been increasing and the people have struggled to pay. They’ve often borrowed to pay it, which has resulted in the student loan crisis, which we’ve been hearing quite a lot about.

Many universities are taking notice and launching programmes to lure kids to college. Princeton University announced it would cover the college costs for those whose families make less than $100,000 annually.

Around 83 per cent of Princeton’s recent graduating seniors are debt-free, according to the university. They also note that 62 per cent of its undergraduate students already receive some financial aid.

So, what’s the return on investment for everyone else paying sky-high prices? It depends on the student’s major.

We’re seeing a big decline in the number of people enrolling in majors with the lowest return on investment, so humanities, history, English, departments are suffering the most.

On an average, the college graduates make 67 per cent more than the non-college graduates. But, of course, some professions require a degree.

(The writer is an Edtech expert)