In one of Denver’s wealthiest suburbs, where the median family income exceeds $150,000 and almost every child is expected to go to college, students are now lining up to earn professional certifications.
Their parents are not worried; in fact, most of them support this approach.
For decades, Americans have viewed college as a career path, spurred by the “college for all” movement — a decades-long educational and political campaign that aimed to make a four-year college degree the standard expectation and primary goal for all high school students. The data shows that this doesn’t work.
Although 88 percent of first-year students say getting a good job is “one of the main reasons” they registeredmore than half of college graduates are underemployed one year, working in jobs that do not require a diploma. A decade later, 45 percent always are.
These are not students who dropped out or dropped out. They did everything right and still haven’t found their place.
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The problem isn’t that college doesn’t matter. That’s because college has become an expensive career exploration strategy, with no off-ramp for students who might need it. It’s no wonder that confidence in higher education is declining.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Opportunities for those without a four-year degree are exploding. The United States faces a annual shortage of nearly 712,000 workers with certificates and associate degrees in fields where workers without a bachelor’s degree can earn more than $55,000 a year, the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University found.
The jobs are there. The paths leading there are not.
A shift in the “college for all” movement is underway in Denver’s Cherry Creek neighborhood, where high school students are participating in a program that offers real-world skills development and professional certifications, ranging from computer science to aviation to health sciences.
Students split their time between the program and their regular classes, with transportation provided to and from their home high school. When I visited the program, I met three students who were all on different paths: one of them was planning to pursue a bachelor’s degree in engineering. Another was interested in an associate degree in construction management. The third was excited to get an industry degree to become a chef.
The commonality they shared was that they were all stuck in their career paths. They had real experience in the field since the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus and clarity that they were going in the right direction. Most Cherry Creek students still end up enrolling in college, but they do so with direction and purpose.
that of Georgetown ROI data shows that associate’s degrees and certificates often provide a higher return on investment than bachelor’s degrees in the first 10 years after graduation, although the data also shows that the ROI for bachelor’s degrees advances to 15 years and then widens the gap afterward.
This nuance is important: For students who need economic traction now, short-term degrees may be the wisest first move.
The “college for all” movement, while well-intentioned, has created a false dichotomy between academic preparation and workforce skills. Programs like Cherry Creek’s not only improve high school and college engagement rates, but also provide a more defined path to the job market.
In my former role as CEO of a public charter school foundation, I was fortunate to be able to support hundreds of students’ journeys from college admission to college graduation. But it was the trips that didn’t go as planned that impacted me the most.
Take, for example, the experience of an Oakland student I met through our career coaching program. She grew up wanting to become a nurse and enrolled in a nursing program to earn a Bachelor of Science degree, diligently embarking on her long-awaited career path and becoming the first in her family to attend college.
But she had never been exposed to real work in health care or nursing in high school, and she attended her program for two years before realizing nursing wasn’t for her. She transferred to a community college, worked at a fast food restaurant and went through what she now calls “a lost phase.”
Two years have passed; not because she failed, but because the system never gave her the opportunity to find her way before registering. Worse yet, most students in this situation find themselves saddled with student loan debt. We can do better.
Related: As college graduates worry about finding jobs, a record shortage of workers is predicted.
If we want to meet the needs of a rapidly changing economy – in which college graduates can’t find well-paying jobs and employers can’t find graduates with the right skills – we must stop treating college and career readiness as separate pathways.
It’s time for families to stop imagining shop classes when they hear “vocational training.” This is a stigma born from a history of underfunded and poorly constructed programs that deprived children of opportunities rather than accessing them.
Today, these programs are very different. Take, for example, the nonprofit organization Ridgeline’s. maritime career exploration program for high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area, where 11th and 12th graders gain paid work experience in various maritime fields such as naval engineering, ferry and container ship operations, and port management. Some maritime jobs require an apprenticeship; others require a degree from nearby Cal Poly Maritime Academy. Many pay six figures.
It’s time to set a new standard: every high school should offer its students the opportunity to earn a diploma. And an industry-recognized credential or documented work experience.
Honor the choice to skip college while giving more meaning to those who want to earn a degree. Everyone wins.
Patrick O’Donnell is CEO and co-founder of Ridgeline, a nonprofit organization that connects Bay Area students from underserved communities to high-paying, high-demand careers.
Contact the opinion editor at opinion@hechingerreport.org.
This college and career story was produced by The Hechinger reportan independent, nonprofit news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Register with Hechinger weekly newsletter.
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