*Attending college to earn a four-year degree or higher has been the rites of passage for millions of students for multiple decades.
The mindset has always been that earning a four-year degree or higher offered people the best pathways to earning salaries far above students with just high school diplomas or less.
Google, the world’s giant in internet-related services and products, believes otherwise, reports Entrepreneur.
Google announced recently that it is set to launch “Genius Career Certificates,” which the company believes will eventually replace college degrees. The certificates, according to company officials, will not require any previous education.
In essence, Google believes it can effectively replace four-year college degrees with a 3-to-6-month program that requires about five hours per week to complete. And unlike a bachelor’s degree from a college or university, which will costs students upwards to $100,000-plus, Google certificates will price out at approximately $300.
Google has already launched two Career Certificates: Google IT Support and Google IT Automation with Python. To date, approximately 637,047 individuals have enrolled, with about 85% of the completers giving the certificate a 5-star review.
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While there is a huge difference in Google’s price versus the cost of a college degree, the question is: “Will employers honor a Google Certificate over a college degree?”
“In our own hiring, we will now treat these new career certificates, as the equivalent of a four-year degree for related roles,” said Kent Walker, Google’s senior vice president of global affairs.
For the segment of people who may have difficulties with the $300 cost of the certificates, Google has pledged to fund 100,000 programs for those in need.
Google states that upon completion of the company’s certificates, course completers can share their new knowledge with top employers, such as GE Digital, Hulu, Infosys, TEKSystems, Sprint, PNC Bank, MCPc and of course, Google.
Other companies most likely will follow suit. In a 2018 survey, it was revealed that many high-paying jobs do not require a college degree. Such companies participating in the survey included, Apple, IBM, Intel, Hilton, Starbucks, Publix, Penguin Random House, Costco, Wholesale, Whole Foods, Nordstrom, Home Depot, Bank of America, Chipotle, Lowe’s, and others.
In 2020, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors said, “You don’t need to have a college degree to work at Tesla,” he said. “College is basically for fun and not for learning.”
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