Success, Redefined: How Nondegree Pathways Empower Youth to Chart Their Own Course to Confidence, Employability, and Financial Freedom

Today's young adults want and need a diverse array of education options, including, but not limited to, two- and four-year degrees to help them connect learning with earning. Young people and employers alike are eager for effective, efficient, work-aligned pathways to employment that enable people not just to say, "I know a lot, and here's the paper to prove it," but instead, "Let me show you what I can do with what I know." We surveyed over a thousand young adults who are not pursuing a four-year degree. Around half of our survey respondents have chosen to pursue nondegree, education-to-career pathways such as apprenticeship, certification, and licensure. The other half of our respondents have chosen not to pursue any postsecondary education. Our goal is to better understand the motivations, circumstances, influencers, priorities, and satisfaction level of today's "non-college youth" to ensure that emerging generations of students have access to accurate information about the many viable pathways that exist and how they might pursue them. [This report was collaborated with American Student Assistance.]