The first is that young people are leaving their undergraduate education without the skills necessary to land their first job nor to really thrive in their lives and careers going forward. Seventy-four percent [of students] feel that they are leaving university unprepared to enter the job market, and 50 percent of hiring managers think that today’s college grads lack the critical thinking skills necessary* to really thrive or contribute at their company.

The second, even more troubling, is whether students obtain a degree or not they are leaving their undergraduate with insurmountable, crippling debt. 

“…[MissionU charges] zero tuition.

…When you get into MissionU we invest in you for that whole year, which enables any student from any background to be able to participate in our program, regardless of your socioeconomic background and your financial situation. Only once you are making $50,000 or more, once you have that job, you contribute 15 percent of your income back to MissionU for three years. That enables us to provide that opportunity to the next student. And if you don’t reach that $50,000 threshold, then you don’t pay us anything.

…We have a skills- and career-focused curriculum. We start by partnering with employers. Our employer partners do two things. First, they advise us on curriculum, and the second is once we calibrate our curriculum to make sure that we are meeting the needs of these industry leading employers, that are indicative of the broader industry needs, we give them early hiring access to consider our top graduates.

…Our first quarter is the foundational quarter. You learn eight hard skills. Those are things like business writing, public speaking, project management, excel gathering and basic tech foundation of html and css. These are eight hard skills we believe will make you an effective employee at any company, regardless of the industry.

…we have our graduation moment, but we don’t think that graduation should be at the very end of the year and that you should be sent on your way to find a job yourself. Instead, we reserve six weeks at the end our program for ‘career launch.’ Career launch is where we support you from interview preparation all the way through to salary negotiation.

This One-Year Alternative to College Promises to Land Students a Well-Paying Job, Debt-Free | Innovation | Smithsonian

hmmmmm

*- emphasis: mine. Although Of course I think it is important to be sensitive to the needs of others, I have often speculated about the correlation between the proliferation of space spaces in academic environments and an impact on formulating problem solving and critical thinking skills. Seemed too pertinent not to hmmmmmmmmmmmmm