Can You Go From Student to Career Without College?

In the last seven decades or so, college has grown from a rare privilege to an expectation. Undergraduate tuition has more than quadrupled since the 1940s and today, two in three students who earn their bachelor’s degree will go into debt for it. It is the millions of graduates like these that have left us with a collective student loan debt in America of $1.5 trillion. Is higher education leaving us behind?

Traditional wisdom tells us that a college degree is the only reliable way towards a rewarding career, but modern experiences will show otherwise. In 2017, 88% of new college graduates say they considered the job market before selecting their major, yet 54% consider themselves underemployed. Gen Z in particular, many of which who are beginning to graduate and enter college, consider financial independence as one of the first hallmarks of adulthood. In many cases, they find college and the responsibilities therein to be a roadblock to that goal and instead take the road less traveled.

Set your future up for success by thinking outside of the box when it comes to your education — this infographic takes a deeper look into the modern college experience, how and why it’s changed, and how young people are looking towards alternatives.