College degrees still pay off — but they're not the only option anymore

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Crist Morillon enrolled in an auto shop class at her Arizona high school in 2013 having no clue it would launch her career.

She signed up thinking it would be a fun elective, but by the time she graduated in 2015, she knew three things: she loved working under the hood of a car, she had no interest in accruing student debt and she didn't want to "spend another four years sitting behind a desk."

After some debate, she decided to skip college. These days, more people are facing the same decision.

A growing number of Americans aren't so sure it's worth the hassle to get the tassel anymore. Only 41% of U.S. professionals believe a college degree is necessary for a successful career these days, according to LinkedIn's latest Workforce Confidence survey. What's more? Even fewer U.S. executives — just one-third — consider a four-year degree essential for skilled workers.

How the skills economy is redefining the value of a college degree

That mindset shift is starting to reshape the job market. More employers are now adopting a skills-first approach to hiring, placing greater value on practical knowhow over academic pedigree. LinkedIn research shows recruiters are increasingly using skills-based filters over degree-based filters when searching for candidates.

This approach broadens the talent pool and drives stronger alignment between candidates and available roles. In fact, companies that search for new talent based on skills are 12% more likely to make a quality hire than those that don't.

Meanwhile, nearly 1 in 5 job postings on LinkedIn no longer list a college degree as a requirement. 

As the job market starts to prioritize what people know over where they learned it, the rising cost of higher education looks increasingly harder to justify. The overall cost of tuition at a four-year public institution jumped 36.7% from 2010 to 2023, according to the Education Data Initiative. As such, graduates often come out with tens of thousands of dollars in student debt. Separate research found that public school graduates of the class of 2023 borrowed, on average, $25,283. The figure was higher for private college graduates — $32,062 on average.

But the college question isn't just about cost anymore — it's about what actually prepares people for their careers, especially in the age of artificial intelligence.

Consider OpenAI's launch of its latest model, GPT-5, last week. It's supposed to be faster, smarter and more useful than previous models, according to the company. “GPT-3 felt like talking to a high school student; GPT-4 felt like a college student, but GPT-5 is the first time it really feels like talking to an expert, like a Ph.D.-level expert,” CEO Sam Altman said in a briefing with reporters.

If you can access that kind of expertise from your smartphone — and even use it to complete coursework — who's to say a degree is still the only path forward?

Why college can still be a smart investment

"Some folks can't afford to work around college," Kathleen deLaski, the author of "Who Needs College Anymore?," told LinkedIn News. "If you want to be a lawyer or a doctor, you've got to figure out how to get into the gauntlet."

But for careers in tech, parts of healthcare or manufacturing, "you can use industry certifications, shortform learning bootcamps and social capital," she continued. This is what Morillon did — she enrolled in a one-year vocational program in 2016 that cost about $33,000. She told CNBC that she received a $15,000 scholarship, bringing her total cost down to about $18,000. She became a certified technician in a quarter of the time it takes to earn a bachelor's degree and at a fraction of the cost. 

But pursuing a college degree can offer key advantages, even for those in more skills-based sectors, deLaski said.

One benefit? A sense of "legitimacy." Many people ultimately "need the confidence" instilled by a degree, she said. "They need the piece of paper for their own edification or to make their family proud."

Beyond being a confidence booster, deLaski said college is often most valuable for those who haven't yet figured out what kind of career they want to pursue. College, at its best, exposes students to a wide range of ideas, disciplines and potential paths.

And, of course, there's still a significant earnings gap. College graduates considerably outearn high school graduates across sectors. In 2024, the median annual salary for someone holding a bachelor's degree was $80,236, compared to $48,360 for high school graduates, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Research also shows graduates of top programs often build stronger professional networks, land jobs faster and progress to leadership roles faster.

Recent LinkedIn data sheds light on which colleges tend to deliver the strongest career outcomes — from job placement rates to the share of alumni who started their own companies or landed internships during school. The new LinkedIn Top Colleges list highlights 50 schools that rose to the top in these areas.

Alternatives to a traditional degree

But a traditional college degree isn't the only ticket to a well-paying career and rewarding life. 

As hiring managers lean into skills-first hiring, "it's no longer, 'I have to go to a four-year school,'" Mark Schneider, former director of the U.S. Education Department's Institute of Education Sciences, told NerdWallet. "The number of alternative pathways that are available is expanding dramatically."

Consider vocational programs like the one Morillon did. The certification from her program helped her land a service assistant job at Tesla in 2017. Within a year, she was promoted to service technician. She worked at Tesla for nearly four years before joining Lucid Motors as a service technician in 2021, and she still works there today.

There are many trade schools or apprenticeship programs within industries including healthcare, education, hospitality, construction and more.

U.S. Department of Labor data shows that more than 450,000 people registered for apprenticeships in the construction industry last year — a 22% increase over the previous five years. The North America's Building Trades Union, for example, offers one such "earn-as-you-learn" apprenticeship program that "trains workers to become highly-skilled, six-figure earning construction workers building the roads, bridges, schools and water and energy systems" across the country.

If going into a skilled trade isn't appealing, consider a bootcamp or certificate program for technical skills that are often taught at top colleges. Coding bootcamps, for example, graduated 60,000 students in 2023 alone. Such camps last an average of 14 weeks and cost students an average of $13,000 for the new credential. As technological advancements continue to upend the way we work, a bootcamp in generative AI could be more useful — MIT offers an 8-week program for $3,000. 

And while these costs are substantially lower than traditional college tuition, there are also free ways to upskill online. Many schools provide free webinars and series anyone can partake in — consider Harvard's 12-week course on web programming with Python and JavaScript or Stanford's 8-week course on product management. Then, those learnings can be supplemented with unlocked LinkedIn Learning courses like Nano Tips to Jump Start Your Coding in Python with Ronnie Sheer and Nano Tips for Navigating Advanced Data Analysis, Vision and Voice in ChatGPT with Lachezar Arabadzhiev.

"Learning doesn't have to be academic, it can come from anywhere," Nathalie Walton, a Georgetown-educated entrepreneur, told LinkedIn News. "When I graduated, there were very few women entrepreneurs of color, so I went to places where I found people that looked like me that were succeeding," she continued. That looked like putting aside her traditional education and seeking out relevant podcasts for her or identifying the right mentors and professional connections.

Upskilling, like Walton pointed out, can be a highly individualized experience, regardless of your educational background. If you're looking to use that to your advantage, check out this LinkedIn Learning course, Landing a Job as a Skills-First Candidate, which is unlocked until September 22.

Morillon, for one, is thankful for her own individualized learning path and doesn't regret skipping a college degree. Had she pursued one, "I would probably still be living at my parents' house and paying off student loans," she said. 

"Instead, I'm able to financially support myself, my parents and my younger sister when they need it," she continued. "The peace of mind that comes with that is priceless." 

If you're still interested in more formal four-year programs, check out the full list of LinkedIn's Top Colleges here.