Rethinking College: How More Valuable Degrees Are Closing America's Talent Gap
By Jamie Merisotis
Critics of higher education have a point: Average inflation-adjusted tuition has gone down, but remains too high. Degrees pay off, but too many grads struggle finding good jobs.
The system needs an overhaul if it's going to prepare America for our increasingly tech-driven workforce. Just within the next six years, 42 percent of jobs will require a bachelor's degree, according to Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce.
More broadly, 72 percent of jobs in the US will require learning or training beyond high school. At this moment, only 55 percent of adults have a post-high school degree or credential, a talent shortage rapidly reaching crisis proportions.
'Even if every unemployed worker were to fill an open job within their respective industry, there would still be millions of unfilled job positions, highlighting the widespread labor shortage,' the US Chamber of Commerce reported in April.
Degrees That Work
Education and training beyond high school is the answer, and forward-looking colleges and universities have recognized that they need to adapt to provide greater value. They're not abandoning commitments to general education in critical thinking, problem solving, and communication. But many are working to offer better connections to careers while focusing on lower costs, better advising, and immersive learning.
Schools with noteworthy approaches can be found in every part of the country and include Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, a historically Black institution near Fort Bragg, the nation's largest Army base. Veterans make up a third of the student body and have included Jeremy Ricketts, who served combat tours with the Army in Kosovo, Iraq, and Kuwait.
Ricketts, in his 40s, felt out of place at another school because of his age. But Fayetteville State works to attract and retain military veterans, and the older and more conservative Ricketts told Lumina Foundation that he feels at home.
'It's a university that allows people from all different ethnic backgrounds and different experiences to just speak up, where nobody belittles each other for their beliefs,' he said. 'It's like, 'Hey, you like Democrats, I like Republicans. Cool; let's go get something to eat.''
Working Together
The notion of helping students feel accepted is also part of the approach at Agnes Scott College, a private, all-women's school in metro Atlanta with a thousand students and a focus on career preparation, leadership, and hands-on learning.
Dax Vandevoorde of New Jersey was a standout math student and president of her high school's prestigious robotics team—and one of only three women on the 50-member team.
'I was so tired of being the female engineer,' she said.
Along with STEM courses, Agnes Scott offers traditional liberal arts with real-world business experience and leadership training.Teaming Up With Employers
These examples fit a pattern of progress in which schools realize they need to make career preparation a core element of bachelor's degrees. The National Skills Coalition found that 84 percent of business leaders believe it's essential for schools to work with employers to develop work-based learning opportunities. Employer engagement, as it's called, takes many forms, including:
All of this means that thousands of students at forward-looking colleges and universities are benefiting from alliances with employers and economic development agencies. As the need for talent drives the demand for advanced learning, smart moves at colleges and universities are helping boost the value of their degrees.
These partners are building new technologies, new career pathways—and new and better bachelor's degrees at a time when all of us need them for the country's future.
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