Hiring sheds degree screens, but follow-through lags

Employers have been dropping degree requirements for entry-level jobs, yet hiring data shows only limited movement toward more non-degree candidates. The University of Dallas is offering one route around that gap with a graduate admissions pathway for experienced professionals without bachelor’s degrees.

Why it matters: - Employers have been signaling a shift toward skills-based hiring, but the hiring results have lagged far behind the policy changes. - That gap leaves experienced workers without bachelor’s degrees with fewer clear routes into graduate education and higher-level roles. - The University of Dallas Catalyst Pathway is built to give those workers a direct admissions option based on experience, not just degrees.

What happened: - Seventy percent of employers in the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook 2026 survey said they use skills-based hiring for entry-level roles, up from 65% a year earlier. - TestGorilla’s 2025 survey found 53% of employers across the U.S. and U.K. had eliminated degree requirements. - Among U.S. employers in that survey, 57% said they had removed degree requirements. - A 2024 report from the Burning Glass Institute and the Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work examined 11,300 roles at large employers after degree requirements were removed. - Researchers estimated those policy changes created incremental opportunities for fewer than 1 in 700 hires. - About 45% of firms landed in the report’s “In Name Only” category, where removing degree requirements did not materially change hiring behavior. - The same study found 37% of firms generated nearly all of the increase in non-degree hiring. - At those “Skills-Based Hiring Leaders,” the share of workers hired without bachelor’s degrees into affected roles rose by nearly 20%.

The details: - The IRS says Section 127 educational assistance programs can provide up to $5,250 per calendar year in tax-free educational assistance for 2025 and 2026. - Federal law made employer payments toward qualified education loans under Section 127 permanent. - Federal law also added cost-of-living adjustments to the $5,250 limit for taxable years after 2026. - The University of Dallas Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business says the Catalyst Pathway lets applicants without a completed bachelor’s degree apply for graduate admission if they have at least eight years of professional work experience. - The pathway also requires at least two years in a supervisory role. - Applicants must submit all undergraduate transcripts, a personal statement and three letters of recommendation. - Students admitted through the Catalyst Pathway enter on probation. - Those students must earn a 3.0 GPA and receive no course grade below a B. - The University of Dallas Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business is accredited by AACSB International. - Michael Sarles, director of graduate admissions and international student services at the University of Dallas, said experienced professionals can bring years of responsibility to an application that a degree screen may leave out. - Sarles said graduate admissions can review work history and responsibility to assess readiness for graduate study.

Between the lines: - The data suggests many employers are changing job-posting language faster than they are changing who actually gets hired. - That creates a practical disconnect: workers may see fewer degree barriers in postings, but still face gatekeeping later in the process. - University of Dallas is positioning the Catalyst Pathway as a workaround for applicants whose experience is substantial but whose academic record does not include a bachelor’s degree.

What’s next: - Experienced workers without bachelor’s degrees can use the Catalyst Pathway if they meet the published work-experience and supervisory thresholds. - Admitted students will have to clear the university’s probation and GPA standards once enrolled. - Employers that want measurable change in non-degree hiring will likely need to adjust screening and selection practices, not just remove degree language from job ads.

The bottom line: - Degree requirements are coming down on paper, but the hiring data shows many employers have not fully changed behavior. The University of Dallas is offering one concrete admissions path for professionals trying to move forward without a bachelor’s degree.