Gen Z, millennials: A college degree is a waste of money and time

New research shows that many college-educated workers believe their degrees aren’t necessary for their jobs and say they wouldn’t have gone to college if degrees weren’t required for so many roles. In fact, some workers consider their degrees a complete waste of money, according to a survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of job search platform Indeed.

The age of the 772 US professionals surveyed plays a major role in their perception of college investment, displaying a generational divide. While only 20% of Baby Boomers consider their degrees a waste of money, that number jumps to 41% for millennials and 51% for Gen Zers.

Indeed’s findings line up with other recent surveys. Last year, the Pew Research Center found that only 25% of Americans believe that a four-year college degree is crucial for obtaining a high-paying job in today’s economy. Additionally, 49% think a degree is less important now than it was two decades ago.

In October, a USA Today survey found that about 46% of college graduates felt they could have secured their current job without a degree. This sentiment is particularly strong among younger generations, with 52% of millennials and 42% of Gen Z respondents sharing that view.

The Indeed survey results highlight a shift toward valuing skills and experience more than traditional qualifications, a trend that has been ongoing for several years. More employers are leaving behind college degree requirements and embracing a skills-based hiring approach that emphasizes strong work backgrounds, certifications, assessments, and endorsements. And soft skills are becoming a key focus of hiring managers, even over hard skills.

Large corporations including Boeing, Walmart, and IBM have signed on to varying skills-based employment projects, such as Rework America Alliance, the Business Roundtable’s Multiple Pathways Initiative, and the campaign to Tear the Paper Ceiling, and pledged to implement skills-based practices, according to McKinsey & Co. “They’ve removed degree requirements from certain job postings and have worked with other organizations to help workers progress from lower- to higher-wage jobs,” McKinsey said in a November 2022 report.

The lack of a need for a degree is also affecting freelance workers. When considering new hires, 80% of corporate executives prioritize skills over degrees, with half planning to increase freelance hiring this year to fill in for a gap in AI and other skills, according to a recent study by freelance job platform Upwork.

Rapidly changing skills and a shrinking wage gap

Caroline Ogawa, a director of research in the Gartner’s HR practice, said that as skills evolve rapidly, many college-learned skills become less relevant over time. Nearly two-thirds of job candidates (64%) agree their job skills are constantly changing, and 48% say they’ve had to learn new skills in the past year to stay competitive, according to Gartner’s own research.

The top 10 highest paid skills in tech can help workers earn up to 47% more — and the top skill among them is generative artificial intelligence (genAI), according to Indeed and other sources. Upwork’s study showed “unprecedented growth” in demand for specialized AI skills, which have surged 220% year-over-year.

To address skills shortages, organizations are prioritizing skills over credentials, allowing them to tap into nontraditional talent. This approach helps employers find candidates with the right skills, even if they don’t have a college degree, Ogawa said.

“This shift in focus, combined with the speed of change for skill relevance, has likely impacted those weighing the importance and cost of investing in those credentials,” Ogawa said.

While 70% of Indeed’s respondents said their degrees are relevant to their jobs, 36% feel they were a waste, and 60% believe they could do their jobs without them. Those with student debt (41%) are more likely to feel that way, especially Gen Z (68%) and millennials (64%).

For decades, a degree meant higher wages, with college graduates earning significantly more than high school graduates. However, the wage gap has recently plateaued, and the “college wage premium” is no longer growing, according to Indeed’s study.

And as the labor market tightens as the result of AI adoption and an economic downturn, employers are tightening their job experience requirements with along with a larger applicant pool. For example, the percentage of software development job postings requiring less than a year of experience has declined as overall job postings in the sector decrease. In April 2022, 3.2% of developer job postings required less than a year’s experience. In 2025, that has dropped to 1.2% of employers advertising for positions requiring less than a year’s experience, according to Indeed’s Hiring Lab.

“As the class of 2025 prepares to don their caps and tassels, they’re stepping into a labor market marked by extraordinary uncertainty,” Allison Shrivastava, an economist with  the Indeed Hiring Lab wrote in a blog. “While headline job numbers may still appear strong, these figures are both backward-looking and disproportionately buoyed by growth in just a handful of sectors, notably healthcare and social services.”

AI changes everything

“Undoubtedly, a college education is not the differentiator it once was. But this issue may become moot, as the AI revolution may completely upend higher ed,” said Arthur O’Connor, PhD, head of the data and information science degree programs at CUNY’s School of Professional Studies.

Students pay tens of thousands of dollars for a degree based on an outdated divide, said O’Connor, who authored the book Organizing for Generative AI and the Productivity Revolution. Undergrads pick between a broad Bachelor of Arts degree or a skills-focused Bachelor of Science degree. “This is a hopelessly outdated dichotomy, as both sets of disciplines are essential today,” O’Connor said.

“Compare this to AI tutors and virtual assistants that offer free or low-cost personalized, self-paced, competency-based learning, tailored to an individual’s learning style, pace, and aptitudes, on any topic of interest,” he said. “In the long run, the real issue is what you learn; not where or how you learn it.”

For today’s students, college is just the start of lifelong learning, O’Connor said. To keep up, universities must overhaul costs, tuition, admissions, staffing, and how they teach.

If they do, college degrees can remain relevant and useful. “Those who say college education has completely lost its value due to AI are confusing knowledge with understanding. As knowledge becomes commoditized, the importance of understanding AI’s inputs and outputs becomes more valuable,” O’Connor said.