College ROI: Work Experience as a Panacea

Since Work Shift wrote about our partnership Upwork with earlier this month,?I've received quite a bit of questions and feedback on the realities of the college to career transition. Figuring out creative ways to help college students gain experience on their path to a degree seems to be on the mind of lots of folks. I want to take a moment and lay out the key data points that I see in this area, and highlight why our partnership with Upwork has the potential to be a game-changer for hundreds of thousands of students.

Experience is a ticket to ROI.?

The average cost of college has skyrocketed over the past few decades. In the last 20 years, for instance, the average cost of college has more than doubled.?

Despite these headwinds, we know that most students can still generate a powerful ROI on a college education based on the major they choose and the experience they earn on their path to a degree.?

Students who complete high-impact practices like internships have stronger economic outcomes than those who do not. In fact, recent research by the Burning Glass Institute and Strada Education Foundation, found that students who miss out on an internship while in college are at substantially greater risk of long-term underemployment.

The problem is that internship programs are shrinking.?

Internships are not widely scalable or accessible - Gallup reported that only 4 in 10 college grads landed one before graduation in 2023 (these numbers get significantly worse for underrepresented populations, by the way).?

However, more worrisome is as of Q1 2024, internships were down double-digits across all sectors. Employers are reevaluating the size of their internship programs post-pandemic when many employees aren’t in the office to mentor and support the interns.?

As the supply of internships dries up, it has become increasingly difficult to land one as a student. Handshake recently reported that the average number of applications submitted for a single internship slot increased from 53 to 93 in just the past year. It’s hard out there!

We need to embrace alternative models that enable students to gain experience.?

Career pathways are not linear. Gen Z, dubbed the “Side Hustle Generation”, understands this better than most.?

Our partnership with Upwork will enable these students to unlock an entire ecosystem of experience - where they can take advantage of the flexibility associated with project work.?

More optionality on key dimensions like industry, discipline and project length are naturally built into the Upwork platform. These projects help students boost their resume, crystallize their career plan and generate income.

As we look to the future, the potential impact of this partnership is immense.?

We are not just preparing students for their first job; we are equipping them with the skills and experiences they need to build successful, fulfilling careers. Stay tuned for a future LinkedIn article from me on impact and outcomes. You can follow me here: Christopher Parrish