Kamala Harris is embracing the degree-free wave — and thousands of workers could benefit

“We will double the number of registered apprenticeships by the end of my first term,” Harris said during her remarks. “Eliminate degree requirements while increasing skills development for half a million federal jobs. And challenge our private sector to make a similar commitment to emphasizing skills, not just degrees.”

According to additional details released by her campaign, Harris is proposing to get rid of “unnecessary degree requirements” for 500,000 federal workers to “address barriers holding workers without a degree back from working in jobs that they can succeed in.”

This proposal comes at a time when a growing number of Americans are questioning the value of a college degree. While Harris and President Joe Biden have worked to cancel billions of dollars in student debt for millions of federal borrowers, the cost of college remains high, and many are still struggling with high debt loads. As a result, many younger Americans are choosing to skip college in favor of career paths that don’t require degrees.

The federal government is one of the largest employers in the US — over 2 million federal employees were in the workforce in 2023, growing over 7% since 2019. Harris’ proposal would likely draw in more workers to the federal government who could not afford college or decided not to attend.

Eliminating degree requirements is a rare issue both Harris and Trump can agree on — in 2020, Trump signed an executive order requiring some federal employers to make it easier for those without degrees to secure jobs.

It’s also an issue that’s been picking up steam at the local and state level. In 2022, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced the state would be opening up thousands of jobs to workers without degrees, and Utah’s Gov. Spencer Cox dropped college degree requirements from 98% of the state’s jobs that same year.

Still, college remains the primary route for the majority of Americans. Harris’ campaign wrote in its newly released policy book that “for those who do seek college degrees, Vice President Harris will provide a pathway to the middle class through high-quality, affordable education.” That would entail continued work to cancel student debt and make college more affordable by increasing the Pell Grant award and strengthening public education, per the policy book.

Harris has not yet outlined specific details on any student-debt relief initiatives should she win the election. She has stood behind the Biden administration’s efforts to implement the SAVE income-driven repayment plan to make payments cheaper for borrowers, along with Biden’s second try at broader student-loan forgiveness under the Higher Education Act.

However, both of those plans are facing legal challenges, leaving borrowers hoping for relief in limbo.

As Business Insider has previously reported, student debt is a key reason Americans — particularly Gen Zers — are choosing to forego a college degree. LeLaina Wakeham, 25, told BI that she didn’t think she needed a college degree to be successful, despite most of her peers choosing to go that route after high school, and she now financially supports herself in a real estate job.

“I was taught that the only way supposedly I’ll be able to learn is if I go to college and get a business degree to teach me what I can teach myself,” she said. “That’s crazy.”