In July 2021, the National Student Clearinghouse reported that over 40 million individuals had dropped out of post-secondary education without a credential.  Nearly half of these individuals dropped out of school before age 25.  This is something enrollment management professionals are keen to examine as they struggle to identify potential prospects to backfill enrollment shortfalls.  Could any of these former drop-outs be persuaded to return to school to complete a degree?  How many of these 40 million people are paying off student loan debt for an education never completed?  It is easy to find blogs, podcasts and research dedicated to exploring things like how to help students transition to college, how to better support all college students through graduation, and what needs to be done to reign in the costs to attend college, but I don’t often find the same level of attention dedicated to helping high school students and their families better explore career pathways beyond high school.

With over a decade of experience working with first-year students, I can attest to the fact that many of the students I worked with didn’t really understand their options beyond high school.  Often, I would find myself meeting with students who told me they were in school because they knew they needed a college degree to have a better life, or they were in school because their parent’s expected them to attend college, or they came to college because they didn’t have anything else better to do.  In an era where students can amass upwards of $30,000 in debt in their first year of attendance, this seems an incredibly costly endeavor given the number of students who drop out without earning a credential.  Even worse were the students who indicated that what they really wanted to pursue (usually things like being a dental assistant, machinist, or CNA) was offered at their local community college, not at the four-year institution where I worked.

Funding for higher education continues to be a hot topic.  The situation with the Connecticut state system outlined in this Inside Higher Ed article is something we will likely see ripple across many states as educational funding is challenged.  Up to this point, most colleges that have closed their doors have been small private institutions.  However, we are quickly headed down the path to possibly seeing regional public institutions struggle to keep their doors open as well.  Many of them simply do not have the endowments to make up the shortfall in government funding.  For the past decade, regional institutions have been slashing budgets, eliminating positions, and struggling to keep afloat as enrollments have tapered off and operating costs have continued to rise.  I believe the next several years will continue to see many of our smaller private and public regional schools close their doors.

As a society, should we rethink educational pathways?  Our current system of post-secondary education certainly seems to be broken when compared to systems in other developed countries where attendance is based on merit, costs and negligible, and less affluent students receive financial subsidies to focus on and complete their degrees.  Given that the cost of a four-year degree is increasingly out of reach for most Americans coupled with the belief that college degrees are no longer the only pathway to prosperity, I believe we will continue to see more students pursuing alternative career pathways that will allow them to gain experience and earn credentials in non-traditional ways.  We’ll also continue to see more organizations like Climb Hire and InfoBase focused on supporting alternative forms of learning and credentialing that equip individuals with the skills they need to pursue their passions without landing them in a lifetime of student loan debt.  Who should attend a four-year institution?  Which students should explore trade schools and apprenticeships?  What advice would you give to students who are contemplating their pathways beyond high school?