Why Higher Education Needs to Embrace a Workforce Education Model

From the editorial boards of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to dinner tables across America, the value proposition of a college degree is under growing scrutiny. While I don’t agree with all of the rhetoric, much of the higher education criticism is fair. The cost of college has tripled since 1980, and undergraduate enrollment is declining. Most four-year colleges in the U.S. have been slow to adapt and reluctant to open their doors to more students, especially those students who can’t afford to put their career prospects on hold for four to six years.

Among the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) graduating class of 2021, only 43% immediately enrolled in a four-year college, and just over a third of 2015 CPS graduates had earned a bachelor’s degree six years later. Today, similar trends continue nationwide, signaling that, for far too many Americans, a walk across the high school graduation stage is a walk off a professional cliff.

Four-year colleges need to think more creatively about incorporating workforce models into their programming, utilizing existing infrastructure to catapult learners into immediate economic stability, and ensuring that these learning experiences “stack” into existing degree pathways. College is still valuable. It just needs to meet learners where they are, not the other way around.

That’s why we launched Accelerate U at National Louis University. Our job-first higher education model offers affordable, rapid training experience that comes with college credit, an industry-recognized credential, and a path to a full-time, in-demand, and living-wage job immediately. So far, 77% of Accelerate U learners complete the program, and about 80% have a full-time job making approximately $40,000 a year. Learners see an average increase of ~$13,000 in immediate earnings upon program completion.

We work with learners like Graciela, a 20-year-old Chicago native who tried college at another institution and stopped out to take care of a sick parent. Last year, she enrolled in Accelerate U through the Hope Chicago scholarship, completed our program, got a medical assistant job at Lurie Children’s Hospital, and is now completing her college degree at NLU.

Or Lashon, a 40-year-old mother of three working at Home Depot as a supervisor; her daughter became ill, and the care she received from hospital medical assistants inspired Lashon to earn her GED and enroll in AU. She now works as a medical assistant at Northwestern Medicine.

As Accelerate U wraps up its third year of operation and serves its 750th learner, there is demand for and power in this higher education model. Here’s what we’ve learned along the way about what a workforce-oriented, four-year college degree program should look like:

• Technical skills get you in the door; durable skills keep you there. Successful programs must focus specifically and intentionally on those professional skills critical for long-term professional success: teamwork, reliability, and problem-solving.
• Support for all learners is essential. Each of our cohorts has a dedicated coach that coordinates supports, emergency funds, and academic tutoring – all provided by NLU. We’re building a job training program that flexes to support all learners and ensures they are ready for Day 1 on the job.
• Everything begins with the employers. We start with an open, in-demand job and work backwards from there. We’ve designed a process to collect feedback from employers at every step of the way, and we work with three levels at each employer — the C-suite, the talent/HR teams, and individual hiring managers — to ensure success. When we can, we hire employer staff to teach as adjuncts in our program.
• Speed is paramount. Our goal is to launch new tracks within six months of identifying an employer partner, build quickly, and iterate along the way.
• Commitment to a workforce model must be shared across all university teams. A program like Accelerate U puts new pressure on shared services and requires a mission-orientation from everyone – from the president to front-line university staff - to “rewire” higher education and ensure a dazzling experience for each learner.

This program is just one example of a higher education institution stepping up to meet learners where they are and delivering well-prepared, diverse talent to employer partners. Imagine what we could accomplish if more colleges began thinking critically about the true promise of higher education in the United States.