Economic Forces Lead To Rise In College Alternatives

Published on January 31, 2016

It’s no secret that a college education doesn’t guarantee what it used to. From an early age, many young people are told that the road to a good job begins in school and ends with a degree.

Unfortunately for those who bought this narrative, a number of factors have contributed to a starkly different realization.

To begin with, the cost of a college education has increased dramatically in the past couple of decades. Students are now being faced with a cost of college that is 11 times greater than what it was 3 decades ago, according to Bloomberg Business. So how did the cost of a 4-year degree get so high in the first place?

One key aspect is the widespread availability of federal loans to prospective students. Providing loans with little discretion has predictably stimulated demand in a major way. At the same time, starting new institutions has only become more difficult—a trend that has inspired growth in the online education industry. All the while, young people are continuously told that college is the safe bet, which helps ensure that they keep repeating the cycle.

As the upfront cost continues to soar, return on investment is dropping due to substantial debt increases, a continually growing supply of degree-holders in the labor market, and a cultural attitude that has glorified obtaining diplomas while neglecting the education of students. So what are young professionals to do?

Some are answering this question by circumventing traditional approaches to learning. Instead of (or sometimes in addition to) enrolling in a four-year program, they are choosing affordable, flexible, online education as a viable alternative, in order to acquire the skills they need in fields where ability still counts for more than a piece of paper.

One such area is online marketing; a field that grew to a $42 billion a year industry in 2013, according to an industry survey by IAB. Marketers rely on an intuitive sense of humanity that is not easily taught. As such, they come from many walks of life and have diverse backgrounds, but are united by a common understanding of people.

To find out whether a career in marketing is right for you, try playing this game.

Electing to forgo a costly and increasingly ineffective education has many apparent benefits, so why do so many continue to do it? Probably because they don’t know that other options exist and have been taught that there is really only one way to go about getting a rewarding career. Ultimately, those who are resourceful enough to gain an education without taking on huge debts stand to gain a huge advantage over their debt-ridden peers. They can do this by analyzing the market for growing sectors, such as online marketing, learning the skills necessary to excel in these industries, and rising to satisfy those needs.