You want the good news or the bad news?
Let’s start with the bad news, so when you hear the good news, the bad news becomes easier to swallow.
Here we go. The bad news.
Two out of every three people, 62%.
That’s roughly the percentage of American adults who do NOT have at least a bachelor’s degree.[1] For perspective, that’s about 163 million people.
It’s an astonishing fact, considering going to college has been a cornerstone of the American dream for decades, but, unfortunately, it’s a fact, nonetheless.
Now, further to this remarkable fact is this: 36.8 million Americans have attended college but never graduated. Of course, there’s a number of reasons why this many people never graduated (or attended in the first place) … which we’ll get to in a moment.
But first, while the numbers of Americans who don’t hold a degree are high, far too high, there is some good news on the horizon. Very good news, actually.
So, let’s put some smiles on faces, shall we?
Today, Conversion Media Group will reveal this good news, and we’ll show you a proven way to help boost enrollments at your college, especially if you have fully online degree programs.
Here we go… The good news.
As our headline says, an astonishing number of adults are “likely” to enroll in college within the next five years.
This, according to a recent survey by Gallup and The Lumina Foundation.[2]
Their survey, just released, which was in its “State of Higher Education 2025” report, included the following people:
13,933 U.S. adults aged 18 to 59 who do not have a college degree. They all fall into these three categories:
1 – 6,000 adults currently enrolled in a certificate, industry certification, associate degree or bachelor’s degree program.
2 – 4,931 adults previously enrolled in a certificate, certification, associate degree or bachelor’s degree program who did not complete it.
And 3 – 3,002 adults who never enrolled in a degree or certificate program after high school
The main takeaway of the poll, as far as CMG is concerned, is this…
“Interest in higher education remains near record highs, with 57% of adults not enrolled in a degree or credential program reporting that they have considered enrolling in the past two years; more than 8 in 10 among this group say they are likely to enroll within the next five years.”
Fantastic, right?
Well…
As you probably know, there are a great number of barriers these adults must overcome to turn a “likely” to enroll into a “definitely” will enroll.
So, what are the main barriers this demographic doesn’t go from “likely” to “definitely”?
Well, Zach Hryonowski from Gallop may have put it most succinct telling Inside Higher Ed, “If people think it’s valuable, they’re going to still go after it. They may hem and haw, say, ‘Is this really worth it? Do I have the money? Why can’t I surmount the barriers?’”[3]
Cost and flexibility.
That’s often the unsurmountable barriers many adult learners are dealing with… and they’re barriers that online colleges can often overcome, especially the flexibility barrier.
Now, here’s even better news…
We told you earlier that we’d show you a proven way to help boost enrollments at your college, especially if you have fully online degree programs.
Here’s the proven way… Partner with Conversion Media Group.
You see, every week, we speak with sometimes hundreds of adult learners, on the phone, who are highly interested in enrolling in college…
And we explain to them the flexibility differences between enrolling online vs in-person at a brick-and-mortar college… a big barrier to enrollment they need to overcome before committing.
Now, once a prospective student shows genuine interest in enrolling in your school, we transfer them directly to your enrollment department, live on the phone. It’s called a live transfer lead.
Essentially, we “hand deliver” you new student prospects who seem far closer to “definitely” than “likely,” and your enrollment reps take it from there.
To get started, all you have to do is give us a ring at 1-800-419-3201 and we’ll explain our methodologies and offer some new student lead estimates.
[1] 62% of Americans Lack a College Degree. Can They Solve the Labor Shortage? – WSJ