For too many Americans, the truth is that getting a college degree has simply
become a toll; an ever more expensive, two-, four-, or six-year pitstop that is
increasingly mandated by employers' HR departments.
Today, thousands of
employers use college degrees as a quick and easy shortcut when it comes to
screening and hiring job applicants, even when the degrees have no connection to
the job at hand. Nearly two-thirds of employers admitted to having rejected
applicants with the required skills and experience simply because they didn't
have a college degree. A 2014 survey found that employers are requiring
bachelor's degrees for positions whose current workers weren't required to have
one, and where the jobs required skill sets haven't changed. Somehow college
degree requirements have become commonplace, but, while colleges and
universities benefit most from agree inflation, they're not the root cause.
So where did it all start? Let's turn back the clock.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
prohibited employers from discriminating against job applicants on the basis of
race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It did, however, allow employers to
use professionally developed hiring tests as long as they weren't "designed,
intended, or used to discriminate." The Supreme Court unanimously interpreted
this to mean that when a hiring process disproportionately affects minority
groups, or has a "disparate impact", then employers must show that any
requirements are directly related to the job itself. This "disparate impact"
standard, which Congress made federal law, applies to all criteria used in hiring
employees, including educational requirements.
Crucially, however, this
standard has only really been applied to other non-educational employment tests.
In turn, risk-averse employers have become increasingly reliant on college
degree requirements as a quick and easy way to screen applicants while avoiding
the legal pitfalls that accompany other employment tests.
For employers, the logic is simple: a college degree is an easy to read signal
that an applicant has the ability to turn in work, sit still for long periods,
take direction, and has the baseline verbal and written skills required for
most jobs. What's ironic about this, is that indiscriminate degree requirements
carry obvious discriminatory implications, as they disproportionately
hum groups with low college graduation rates. The high cost of credential
inflation, of course, falls most heavily on low-income and working-class
individuals. Degree inflation also bars young people from taking entry-level
jobs, and holds families and would-be workers hostage, forcing them to spend
time and money getting a degree that may not deliver relevant skills or knowledge.
What can be done? Policymakers, employers, and colleges should forge alternative
paths to a degree for those who lack the money, time, or interest, to do so within
the strictures of the current system. Policymakers also need to consider how
to put college degrees on equal footing with other hiring qualifications, and
there should be new ways to certify the skills that employers demand, and ensure
that degrees are only required for jobs that clearly demonstrate the need for them.
While these goals can be reached by amending legislation that regulates
employment tests, or by increasing support for college alternatives, like
apprenticeships and non-degree programs, advocacy and legal action are likely
required to spark the necessary change.
College degrees can be useful tools, but
they shouldn't serve as a gateway to every career path. As it stands, college
degree requirements are turning higher education into an ever more expensive
burden, and not the bridge to opportunity it was meant to be.
To learn more about the college industrial complex, check out the link to my National Affairs essay in
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