Courtesy of Heather
- Business Insider spoke to three people who are making a living without a bachelor's degree.
- They said they're earning liveable wages, and they're grateful not to have student debt.
- Some people don't see higher education as worth it today as more jobs no longer require a college degree.
Heather didn't want to be a doctor or a nurse, but she wanted to work in the medical field — partly inspired by the "Grey's Anatomy" she watched growing up and partly because she saw it as "an active and rewarding career."
Her dream came true — she now works as an MRI technologist making about $36 an hour.
While becoming a doctor or nurse may mean taking out student loans, that's not something Heather ended up having to think about. Heather's last name is known to Business Insider but has been omitted for privacy. Heather, 24, said she worked part-time to help pay for community college, where she earned an associate degree in medical imaging and then furthered her schooling with an MRI certificate program.
Not having to worry about student loan payments has meant she's been able to build her savings. She noted she was able to afford a wedding without going into debt, and that she's about to close on a new home. Otherwise, she said, it may have been unlikely she would "have been able to afford the area" that she's in, and could have meant not being able to afford a new car when she graduated.
"It ended up being awesome because I'm not in any student debt," Heather said.
As the job market and workers' needs shift, and an increasing number of jobs are becoming skills-based rather than looking for a specific degree, college just doesn't seem worth it to some people anymore. That trend is especially prevalent among younger Americans — according to a survey conducted in July 2023 by BI, in collaboration with YouGov, which included more than 600 Gen Zers. Just 39% of Gen Z said advancing their education is important to them.
Joseph Fuller, a professor at Harvard Business School and co-lead of the school's "Managing the Future of Work" initiative, told BI that the value of college degrees has become a "much more public conversation" over recent years, "partly because of the incredible explosion of student debt."
"There has been, for the first time in a long time, a narrowing of the gap between what you make as a college graduate and what you make as a non-college graduate, and the so-called college premium has shrunk a bit," he said.
Heather thinks her "wage is pretty competitive" and fair. She noted she also makes money through TikTok; one of the things she shares on her TikTok account is life as an MRI tech.
Over 40 million Americans account for America's $1.7 trillion student-loan portfolio. With the fate of broader student-loan forgiveness uncertain, the value of higher education — and whether five or six figures in student debt will pay off — is a topic more people, young and old, are mulling.
"I do think that there is a huge priority placed in pushing kids to go to a college, even if they don't know what they're doing, just get a bachelor's," Heather said. "I think that's kind of a toxic and scary thing to teach kids who are fresh out of high school and don't know what they want to do with their lives yet."
'It has been amazing for me to not be in debt'
Sadie Shaw, a 22-year-old who dropped out of college after two months, has been doing just fine without a bachelor's degree. As BI previously reported, Shaw now works as a store manager at Plato's Closet, which resells gently used clothing, along with earning an income as a TikTok creator and selling fitness plans online.
She said that she quickly realized she could teach herself the kind of material being covered in courses in marketing and entrepreneurship without paying thousands of dollars to her state school, and five years later, she now makes an income that fully supports her lifestyle.
"It has been amazing for me to not be in debt," Shaw said. "I have no student loans, like so many of my friends are in $100,000 in debt and student loans just to get a job that pays $60,000 a year."
"I definitely feel very thankful and privileged that I don't have that," she said.
BI has spoken to a number of borrowers over the past few years who have struggled to find jobs that would pay off their six figures in student debt. One 63-year-old borrower, Chris Fleshren, previously told BI that he decided to pursue a bachelor's degree in Geographic Information Systems later in life to further his career and earn a higher income, but he has since been unable to land a career in that field — and he cannot afford to make payments on his $37,000 balance.
"I tried to better myself trying to get an education, trying to get somewhere, but apparently I did it too late in life," he told BI. "I have no criminal history, nothing but good employment history, and I just couldn't get a job."
A growing number of local governments are working to boost job opportunities that do not require college degrees. Fuller pointed to recent efforts in Colorado to expand apprenticeship programs, along with the Texas community college system working to only fund programs that have high financial value post-grad.
"We see people remain hesitant and maybe a little skeptical about a lot of four-year degrees," Fuller said. "So I think we're going to see more pathways opening up."
Derek Sims is another example of success without a degree. While he didn't complete college, he has had a career full of different types of work. He's worked as a trucker, bus driver, transcriptionist, and operations specialist, for instance. He now does contract work in sales for a marketing agency.
Sims said he's grateful he doesn't have to think about student loans and said it was the key reason he didn't attend college — although he did try community college but didn't complete it.
"I love not having student loan debt right now, especially after I was let go from my previous job," Sims said.
Courtesy of Derek Sims
Sims said "our workforce would be more successful if" it focused on specialized training instead, "especially now with where technology's heading."
"I feel like I had a great and successful career by focusing just on the sales aspect of it instead of going into college and getting a whole bunch of things that might not have served my career as much as it has now," Sims said.
How to get a job without a bachelor's degree
Heather was able to find her job with the help of connections, she said.
Dental hygiene and certain types of nursing are two kinds of work where schooling could be completed in two years, Heather said.
"If people are interested in healthcare, I would definitely suggest looking at a career college or a local community college for the two-year healthcare programs," she said.
People should also check what requirements are needed. For instance, Heather said people considering medical imaging should be in an accredited program.
Bootcamps may also be helpful, as was the case for Sims. He said he did research on how to "break into tech without a degree," an industry in which he thinks networking is valuable for finding work.
Determining what makes a strong job candidate can be helpful in landing roles, like it was for Sims in landing a previous job. For instance, instead of just sending in a job application for a job he was seeking, he sent a video as well as an email in which he pretended he had the job and showed what it would be like if he was hired.
"I just made sure that I was looked at as the top candidate," Sims said.
Sims said a lot of skills in tech work — from sales to SEO — can be learned on YouTube or elsewhere, but people should also not "be afraid to lean into support," noting there are networking groups and coaching programs out there.
As the workforce continues to evolve and Americans' attitudes toward higher education change, it might be just the beginning of a new workforce dynamic that doesn't value a degree as it once did.
Fuller said that schools "are going to have to work to demonstrate to potential students that graduates of their programs can enjoy success and a lifestyle that will support income level, support a household with a decent lifestyle."
Did you find a job without a bachelor's degree? Are you able to put money toward something else because you don't have student loan debt? Share your story with these reporters at asheffey@businessinsider.com and mhoff@businessinsider.com.