Dive Brief:

• Economists studying the impact of certain types of colleges on their graduates’ job prospects have found students with degrees from for-profits are at a disadvantage in the job market.
• The American Economic Association reports that researchers sent out a batch of nearly identical resumes, adjusting the educational history to test their theories, and they found that graduates with bachelor’s degrees from public colleges got calls back 8.5% of the time, on average.
• Resumes listing degrees from online for-profit colleges got callbacks 25% less often, and degrees from local, brick-and-mortar for-profits led to 10% fewer callbacks — but the jobs that required an occupational license or certificate called back students from both types of institutions at about the same rate.

Dive Insight:

The study shows a clear distrust of the quality of for-profit education. In many cases, the AEA notes, job applicants with an associate degree from a for-profit college were no better off in the job search than applicants with no college experience at all. When it comes to vocational programs, however, if for-profit colleges prepare their students well enough for an industry certification, they seem to be fine in the job search. When employers can see an external validation of student skills, they have another way to assess job candidates outside of their educational history.

This is not unlike an effort by six universities that have joined together for a credentialing initiative through the University Learning Store. The non-degree credentials offered through the store come with a list of competencies that offer students cheaper and faster alternatives to traditional post-secondary education as well as externally validated information for employers about the value of the credential. The institutions involved hope this validation overcomes distrust of a nontraditional path.