Are college degrees losing their luster? Some employers think so

A recent survey of U.S. employers found that 45% plan to cut out their bachelor’s degree requirements for some positions during 2024. That survey also found 55% of companies had removed degree requirements during 2023. Another telling statistic: Four in five of the employers surveyed said they value experience over education when they evaluate candidates for jobs. So, what’s the future for degree requirements in hiring? And why are employers seeing a need to eliminate those requirements for certain positions?

Effects of degree requirements

In late 2023, Intelligent.com published results of its survey of 800 U.S. employers and found much interest in nixing four-year degree requirements for certain jobs.

It’s widely believed companies started requiring four-year degrees for positions that could just as well be filled by noncollege graduates because businesses were searching for a quick and easy way to deal with unwieldy mountains of applicants. By automatically rejecting those without degrees, they could get down to a manageable number of candidates.

But degree requirements also shut out many candidates capable of filling jobs. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in 2022 just 37.7% of Americans age 25 or older had at least a bachelor’s degree.