The ROI of "traditional" college rages on and most likely isn't going away anytime soon. This is a recap of an eye-opening conversation conversation with an experienced higher ed reporter who outlined some of what he's seeing the space right now. In summary: Yes, college is still very much worth it, but the traditional path presents growing challenges.

APEX, N.C., Feb. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- College Is Getting Easier to Get Into But Harder to Graduate From. What That Means for IT Career Seekers

(The following is a recap of a conversation from IT-training college MyComputerCareer's weekly "Get Into IT Live" broadcast )

Jon Marcus, senior higher education reporter for the Hechinger Report, has been covering higher ed since before most current college students were born. He's written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, and co-hosts NPR's "College Uncovered" podcast. When he sat down with us on the "Get Into IT Live" weekly broadcast, the conversation went places most college marketing materials avoid.

The Admissions Myth Everyone Believes

Here's something that might surprise you: it's getting easier to get into college, not harder.

Only 33 schools in the entire country accept fewer than 10% of applicants. Private colleges accept 70% of applicants. Public universities accept 80%. Those acceptance rates have gone up eight percentage points in the last decade.

Why? Because enrollment has dropped by 1.5 million students over the last 15 years. Colleges need students more than students need them. But the marketing hasn't changed. Schools still want you to believe getting in is nearly impossible, because it keeps the perceived value high.

Jon put it bluntly: "It's a buyer's market. They need you more than you need them."

This matters for anyone exploring education options right now. Whether you're looking at traditional universities, computer classes near me, or specialized IT training programs, understanding the actual landscape helps you make better decisions. The pressure to get into a "prestigious" school has driven countless students to make expensive choices they didn't need to make.

The Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions

Tuition is only part of the story. While Jon's reporting showed tuition had actually been falling when adjusted for inflation until recently, other costs kept climbing. Dorms and dining services increased faster than inflation. And now tuition is rising again, with universities citing their own inflation pressures, health care costs, and declining international student enrollment.

But here's what really matters: 44 million Americans started college and never finished. Many are still making loan payments decades later for degrees they never received. Jon pointed out something striking when he researched why fewer high school graduates go straight to college now.

"The kids coming out of high school now, their parents still have college loans," he said. "Why would those kids go to college? Why would those parents want those kids to go to college?"

That's the question more families are asking. When parents are still paying off their own education 25 years later, the traditional college path loses some of its appeal. For students interested in computer careers, this creates an opening to consider alternatives that don't come with decades of debt.

The Course Access Crisis

Even if you get into college and navigate the financial maze, there's another problem Jon uncovered. Colleges only manage to offer required courses when students actually need them about 15% of the time.

Read that again. 15%.

Jon's reporting found students locked out of classes they need to graduate, forced to wait semesters for another shot. He interviewed one student spending four years at a community college trying to earn a two-year degree because he kept getting shut out of required courses.

"When I get to go to colleges and universities, the greatest privilege is to talk to students because we totally underestimate them," Jon said. "They get this. They are overcoming a lot of really long odds."

The result of this course access crisis? Fewer than half of four-year college students actually graduate in four years. The actual average time to earn a bachelor's degree is five years. A third of students never graduate at all. A quarter of freshmen don't even come back for sophomore year.

Think about what that means financially. If you're planning on four years but it takes five, you're paying for an extra year of tuition, room, and board. You're also foregoing a year of employment opportunity. For someone pursuing IT careers, that lost year of work experience compounds over time.

Jon noted that women in STEM fields get hit particularly hard by this access problem. When they can't get into required courses, they're more likely to quit entirely or switch majors, which means starting almost from scratch and tacking on even more time and money.

"If you're an engineering major, you've been taking a very specialized course of studies and you change a major, you're going to have to start almost again from scratch," he explained.

The Transfer Credit Nightmare

The course access problem connects to another issue Jon highlighted: transferring credits between institutions is a disaster. This particularly affects students who start at community colleges expecting to eventually earn a bachelor's degree.

"80% of (newly enrolled) community college students say that ultimately they plan to get a bachelor's degree," Jon said. "The proportion of them that actually manages to do so is 16% because their credits don't transfer."

Even when credits technically transfer, they often don't count toward the major. Faculty members at the receiving institution question whether the community college course was rigorous enough. Students end up retaking classes they already passed, spending more time and money to cover the same material.

For anyone considering the community college to university path as a cost-saving strategy, this is critical information. The two-plus-two model (two years at community college, two years at a university) rarely works as advertised. It's more often two years at community college plus three or four years at a university.

Compare that to focused computer career training programs where every class counts toward completion. No transferring. No credits lost. No faculty members questioning whether your previous coursework was good enough.

The Real Return on Investment

Fewer than half of Americans now think a four-year degree is worth the cost. Jon explained why the ROI question goes beyond just tuition numbers.

There are hundreds of college programs whose graduates earn no more than people who only finished high school. The information available to help students make informed choices is often misleading or incomplete.

"Things like post-graduate placement rates, how many of your graduates have jobs, for some reason it's always 98%," Jon said. "But if you look at the fine print, about half of the graduates answer the surveys. So what they're really saying is that 98% of 50% of their graduates have jobs."

This matters enormously for anyone investing time and money in education. If you're exploring any educational pathway, ask hard questions about outcomes. Don't accept vague percentages without understanding how they're calculated.

Jon recommended using the federal College Scorecard, which provides actual data by institution and major. "Inform yourself before you do that," he advised. "You might have always wanted to be an artist and you want to go get an art degree, but first go look and compare the institutions and see what you're going to make."

(MyCC editorial: For computer careers specifically, the outlook is strong. Industry analysis shows IT jobs growing faster than average across multiple specializations. A focused IT training program that gets you certified and job-ready in months looks very different from a four-year computer science degree that may or may not lead to employment.)

Where Higher Education Is Headed

The traditional model is shifting out of necessity. Jon talked about universities introducing three-year applied degrees focused on career outcomes rather than four years of exploration. Students want a clear path to employment, not five years of uncertainty.

"We're beginning to see the evolution of the three-year degree, in many cases being called applied degrees or career-focused degrees which don't require electives," Jon explained. "You don't really have to take art history if you want to go into criminal justice through these degrees."

He also predicted continued closures. Another 370 colleges are expected to close in the coming years, adding to the 80 that have shut down since the pandemic. Many of these are small rural institutions that serve as important community anchors.

"Universities and colleges are going to have to be more responsive to the market because the market's going away," Jon said. "To get them back, they're going to have to give people what they want. They're going to have to give people a path to a career."

According to MyCC, this shift toward career-focused education is exactly where trade schools and specialized training programs have been operating all along. While traditional universities are now trying to pivot toward employability, IT schools have built their entire models around getting students job-ready quickly.

Practical Advice from Someone Who's Seen It All

Jon offered specific guidance for students and parents navigating today's higher education landscape:

First, relax about admissions. Unless you're applying to Harvard or Caltech, you're going to get in somewhere. Many schools have even eliminated application fees or offer fee waiver programs.

Second, negotiate for more financial aid. "Once you're in, you're in," Jon said. "If they offer you financial aid that isn't enough, go back and say, 'I want some more.' These other guys down the street that compete with you have already offered us this much. Can you match it? Can you beat it?"

Third, do your research on actual outcomes. Don't assume colleges are telling you the truth about job placement. Use independent sources like the College Scorecard to verify claims.

And finally, understand that it depends on the major and the program. Some fields and some schools deliver on their promises. Some don't. "Find a way to channel your interest into a way where you're going to be able to pay back the loan you will almost certainly need to borrow to pay for college," he advised.

What This Means for Computer Career Seekers

Our take: Jon's reporting reinforces something we see constantly: the traditional higher education path works for some students. For many others, especially those looking to break into IT careers without years of uncertainty and mounting debt, there are alternatives.

The problems Jon identified in traditional higher education don't necessarily exist in focused IT training programs. You won't get shut out of required courses when programs guarantee your seat. There's no five-year timeline when training takes months, not years. Credits don't fail to transfer because you're completing everything in one place. And career services don't disappear after you finish because the entire model depends on graduate success.

Students pursuing computer classes and IT certifications earn credentials like CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+ that show up in actual job postings. Employers know what these certifications mean. There's no ambiguity about whether your education connects to employment.

The traditional university computer science degree has its place. But for someone who needs to get into the workforce sooner rather than eventually, who can't afford five years of expenses and lost opportunity, or who has family obligations that make a four-year residential program impossible, specialized computer career training offers a viable path.

Jon spent decades covering the promise and the reality of higher education. His reporting shows that the gap between those two things has grown wider. More students are questioning whether traditional college delivers what it promises. More families are looking at the actual costs versus the actual outcomes.

That scrutiny is healthy. Education should be evaluated based on results, not reputation. Whether you're considering traditional universities, community colleges, trade schools, or specialized IT training, the questions are the same: What will this cost? How long will it take? What will I be able to do when I finish? And will it actually lead to employment?

The answers to those questions look very different depending on which path you choose. Jon's reporting makes clear that traditional higher education is struggling with course access, completion rates, transferability, and transparency around outcomes. Those aren't small problems that will fix themselves quickly.

For anyone exploring computer careers right now, understanding the full landscape of education options matters more than ever. The traditional four-year path is one option. It's not the only option. And for many students, it's not the best option.

Watch the full conversation with Jon on YouTube

Media Contact

Aaron Martin, MyComputerCareer, 1 7735054325, aaron.martin@mycomputercareer.edu, www.mycomputercareer.edu

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SOURCE MyComputerCareer