73% of job seekers believe a degree is needed for a well-paying role–but is it?

This article originally appeared on The Grad Cafe.

The college route isn’t for everyone: it’s prohibitively expensive for many people, for one thing. And research shows that 73% of jobseekers think a degree is absolutely needed to land a job that pays well.

That’s not exactly true. Here’s why.

Higher Education Comes with High Costs

The average cost of college has more than doubled since the turn of the century, with an annual growth rate of 2% over the past 10 years alone, according to the Education Data Initiative.

The average cost of college at a private, nonprofit university will see students spend a total of $55,840 per academic year living on campus, with a huge $38,768 of it on tuition and fees. And when you factor in student loan interest and loss of income, the ultimate cost of a Bachelor’s degree can exceed $500,000.

Perhaps given that, it isn’t so surprising that according to Pew Research Center, college enrollment among young Americans has been declining over the past decade.

Fewer Undergrads by a Wide Margin

From a high in 2011, the total number of 18-to 24-year-olds enrolled in college was down by 1.2 million by 2022.

Young men are driving the decline, with only 39% of those who have completed high school enrolled in college.

That’s down from 47% in 2011, and the research states that “men were more likely than women to say they didn’t go to college because they just didn’t want to or because they didn’t feel they needed more education for the type of job they wanted.”

More Focus on Skills, Not Education

This viewpoint may be influenced by a rise in skills-based hiring, where companies look to prioritize what you can do, over what you’ve studied. Companies such as General Motors, Google, Apple, Microsoft, EY and Accenture have all removed educational requirements from their job postings.

Additionally, Delta eased up on its education requirements for pilots at the start of 2022, saying a four-year college degree was preferred––but was no longer required.

At Bank of America, the requirement for a college degree for the majority of its entry-level jobs is now gone. Walmart, the country’s largest employer, says it values skills and knowledge gained through work experience.

Now, 75% of its U.S. salaried store management started their careers in hourly jobs.

Fewer Positions Require a Bachelor’s Degree

Recent research from CV Wizard surveyed 1,000 people aged 18-60 on the current state of the job market, and found that while 73.21% say that their jobs typically require a degree or other professional qualification, only about half of the survey’s respondents actually think that a degree is needed to get a well-paying job.

Within tech, there is an increasing move away from requiring people to have a college degree. Research from Harvard Business School and The Burning Glass Institute found that the share of postings asking for a Bachelor’s degree declined by 12% between 2019 and 2020, from 35% down to 23%.

Other research from McKinsey & Company has found that about half of all work activities could be automated by 2055, or as soon as 2035.

Because technology advances so quickly, this is creating an ongoing shortage of skilled workers, and some experts predict that based on these trends, an additional 1.4 million jobs could open to workers without college degrees over the next five years.

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