Thanks to an endless stream of research and anecdote, more people are realizing that the absurdly expensive, time-consuming college and graduate degree are often not close to worth it--either in learning gains or employability.
Perhaps in response, there's been an explosion of online courses--including those sought-after but overrated courses taught by the research professors at Stanford, Harvard, etc.
Can it be long before accrediting agencies, instead of just accrediting universities, start accrediting individual student bachelor's degrees: Students would take those free/low-cost online courses and the accrediting agency would determine when sufficient courses, test-out exams and real-life experiences have been completed to comprise a degree. That would dramatically lower the cost of a college or graduate school degree and, because students could take courses from professors and other experts anywhere rather than at one university, the quality will be higher. Housing and extracurriculars could be provided on dramatically scaled-down campuses in cooperation with local resources--e.g., community swimming pools.
On the Mar. 8, 2015 edition of Work with Marty Nemko, I'll have a conversation about the present and future of online education and training, especially as it relates to career preparation, with Dennis Yang, CEO of Udemy.com
And as usual, you can call in for a Workover. Whatever career conundrum is besetting you or someone you love, I usually can help.
Work with Marty Nemko is heard every Sunday from 11 AM to noon on 91.7 FM and is archived for a week on NPR.org and iTunes, and in perpetuity here on KALW.org.