\n<\/p>\n
As Americans earn nondegree credentials in droves, many are paying for these programs out of pocket, according to a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts. <\/p>\n
The report, released Thursday, analyzed 2022 data from a new national survey of over 15,000 American adults fielded by the U.S. Census Bureau, called the National Training, Education and Workforce Survey. The data included individuals who earned vocational certificates at a higher ed institution, such as a community college or trade school, as well as active industry licenses or personal certifications, like a teaching license.<\/p>\n
Interest in nondegree credential programs has exploded in recent years, the data showed: The rate at which Americans earned nondegree credentials tripled between 2009 and 2021. The annual vocational certificate attainment rate jumped from about 0.4\u00a0percent of U.S. adults to about 1.2\u00a0percent over that period, while the professional license attainment rate rose from about 0.5\u00a0percent to around 1.6\u00a0percent. More than a third (34\u00a0percent) of adults surveyed held a nondegree credential.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, enrollment in degree programs has trended downward. Both bachelor\u2019s degree and associate degree enrollments fell between spring 2020 and spring 2025, by 1.1\u00a0percent and 7.8\u00a0percent respectively. (However, the analysis also found students often earned nondegree credentials on top of degrees. Slightly over half of adults who hold these credentials earned degrees, as well.)<\/p>\n
But even though attainment of nondegree credentials is \u201cskyrocketing\u201d across the country, \u201cwe know very little about how students pay for these programs,\u201d said Ama Takyi-Laryea, a senior manager of Pew\u2019s student loan initiative.<\/p>\n
The new data offers some answers. Most nondegree credential earners reported using their own money to pay for programs\u201451\u00a0percent of vocational certificate holders and 71\u00a0percent of professional license holders. Roughly a fifth of both groups said they took out government or private loans. Nearly a quarter (24\u00a0percent) of professional license holders and 15\u00a0percent of vocational certificate holders said they relied on employer financial support, while another 15\u00a0percent of vocational certificate earners used other kinds of scholarships. More than 60\u00a0percent of respondents used only one form of financial support to pay for their programs.<\/p>\n
Takyi-Laryea said these findings raise concerns, given that such programs can be \u201cquite costly.\u201d An Education Trust brief found that the median monthly cost of attendance for some of these programs ranges between $2,100 and $2,500, depending on the type of provider. She wants to see further research done on how students afford these programs, including how often they use credit cards to pay program costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe outcomes for students are mixed when it comes to these programs,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so sometimes, despite the hefty costs associated with it, students are left with unsustainable debt or with a credential of little value\u00a0\u2026 More research into how students pay for these programs will protect them from riskier forms of financing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As Americans earn nondegree credentials in droves, many are paying for these programs out of pocket, according to a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The report, released Thursday, analyzed 2022 data from a new national survey of over 15,000 American adults fielded by the U.S. Census Bureau, called the National Training, Education and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[14638,17746,1040,15231,678],"class_list":{"0":"post-30152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-credentials","9":"tag-nondegree","10":"tag-pay","11":"tag-pocket","12":"tag-students"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}