More than 40 million Americans (roughly 1 in 7 adults) have earned college credits but don’t have the time or money to prove it.
Alix Petkoff from Florida is one of them. He enrolled in college right after high school with the idea of becoming a psychiatrist. Unaware that this career choice required medical school, and unable to afford graduate school let alone college, Petkoff changed his major twice and found his progress toward a bachelor’s degree stalled. I noticed.
An information technology job on campus reignited his interest in computers, but the job paid only $10 an hour and the computer science classes covered the same material he was already learning on the job. I was there.
So Petkoff dropped out of college with about 30 credits short of completing his degree, with $16,000 in student loans and $4,000 left on his credit card for living expenses.
He honed his technical portfolio with freelance computer work, applied for IT jobs, worked in a restaurant, and stewed over the frustrating experience, later saying, “University just destroyed me.”
It doesn’t have to be this way. Like millions of other learners, Petkoff was forced into an outdated and bureaucratic higher education model that takes into account how people learn and work today. It wasn’t designed.
Too many learners pause their education long before earning a qualification because they no longer have the money, time or patience. Or they end up in a program that lacks the support and structure to meet their individual needs and goals.
Related: The gap in college degrees between black and white Americans has always been bad.It’s getting worse
Learners need more access to low-cost, short-term programs that help them achieve their career goals.
Federal and state governments and institutions of higher education are implementing policies and practices that help students build career paths and make alternatives to a college degree more accessible, affordable, and practical. It can and should be adopted.
To accomplish this, federal and state policymakers will need to loosen some of the guardrails intended to protect learners from making “wrong” decisions. Ultimately, some of these guardrails stifle postsecondary innovation, limit competition between college and non-college options, and ultimately limit learner choice. Students also need to receive better information about college and non-university pathways and outcomes, both before they start their programs and while they are enrolled in the program.
University is not always the best option for all learners.
Petkoff said he receives little information about higher education and potential alternatives in high schools and colleges, and it’s often inaccurate. For example, no one advised him that he could save thousands of dollars by completing college-required general education classes at a local community college.
Looking back, Petkoff admits that if he had had a better understanding of the cost and courses required to complete his degree, he would have pursued a completely different path.
His story, which he shared with me on a video call after I asked for an introduction this summer, is why students need more transparent financial counseling and the limited amount currently offered by student aid programs. It shows you that you need more options for accessing financial aid, beyond the college options available to you.
Providing high school students with information about program costs and financial aid well before they apply to college can help with decision-making. Students should be able to use Pell Grants for non-university alternative programs that have a proven track record of placing students in jobs that pay wages that support their families.
Petkoff said she later discovered that financial aid and on-campus jobs would not cover all of her college costs. He received a Pell Grant, which meant he had less debt than other students.
However, Pell grants can only be used in one setting: universities.If Mr. Petkoff had been allowed to use the federal grant to pursue alternatives to college, such as technology or health care upskilling programs with non-academic providers, he would have done so instead. wax.
Related: Opinion: Often overlooked vocational and technical schools offer a great solution to student debt and workforce shortages
Due to time and cost considerations, university is not always the best option for all learners. Growing evidence of program-level outcomes shows that too many of the options deemed ‘safe’ by governments simply because they are accredited leave learners so disappointed that they don’t go on to university at all. This shows that they are living a similar lifestyle.
Petkov didn’t find his true path until more than a year after leaving college. While searching for IT jobs online, he found information about Merit America, a nonprofit organization that offers low-cost programs to prepare people for careers in technology. (Merit America is part of the Stand Together philanthropy community.He is a grant recipient of the Charles Koch Foundation, where the author is a senior fellow.)
Merit America built on Petkoff’s existing IT knowledge and gave him new technical skills to overcome self-doubt and launch a successful career. After completing the program, Mr. Petkoff accepted a position as a technology coordinator at a nonprofit organization in Washington, DC. His starting salary was $45,000, more than twice what he was making in the food service industry.
After holding two jobs, he is now the IT director for an executive coaching company and makes just over $100,000 a year. A University of Virginia analysis found that Merit America graduates saw their average annual wages increase by $24,000 more than three months after completing the program.
Merit America is one of a growing number of providers preparing students for in-demand technology and health care careers. However, low-income students who rely on financial aid or loans may receive little guidance about such college options and be encouraged to pursue a college degree instead.
It’s time to further open the door to short-term non-college options so that students like Petkoff have access to more personalized options to thrive.
Steven Taylor is a Higher Education Research Fellow at the Stand Together Trust. He leads the higher education and workforce policy portfolio and partnership strategy.
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