Some College, No Degree

Employers don't have the tools to assess learning acquired by 20% of working-age Americans

The percentage of working-age Americans (WAA) with Some College No Degree (SCND) increased from 14.3% in 2013 to 19.7% in 2021. We NEED a hiring system that doesn’t rely on (the bundle of) a degree to determine competency (eligibility). Degree requirements in the recruitment process disregard the learning acquired by 1 of 5 working-age Americans.

The performance of our organizations relies on our ability to recognize skills. Filtering for a degree, or worse, a degree from an elite set of universities, is a low-effort hiring strategy that is becoming increasingly inefficient and exclusive.

These are alarming figures and they don't even include the growing number of individuals with learning acquired outside of traditional post-secondary pathways.