For some 18-year-olds, today’s A-level results day will be one to celebrate, as months of hard work will be rewarded with a ticket to their dream university. But those who miss the mark may have to make a plan for their future more-or-less on the spot.
Though going through clearing is always an option, in today’s job market having a degree is increasingly seen as superfluous.
Official figures indicate waning enthusiasm among school leavers for higher education.
Data from the University College Admissions Service (Ucas) show that the share of 18-year-olds applying for university fell from 42.1pc to 41.9pc this year, with just a third of sixth-formers in the northeast going through the system – a regional disparity that some have found alarming.
The soaring cost of further education is understandably off-putting for many. Under the relatively new Plan 5 loan, this cohort of students may be paying off their loan well into their sixties.
Graduate careers website Prospects found 40pc of students were worried about money – up from 32pc in 2022 at the start of the cost of living crisis. It added that six in 10 students were worried about the cost of living and tuition fees.
Indeed, Prospects’ report found that the share of students taking on apprenticeships had risen from 15pc to 24pc, while those opting for university dropped from 59pc to 54pc. Of those who are pursuing higher education, roughly half were motivated by the career prospects of completing a degree course.
Traditional wisdom suggests a degree is the ticket to higher salaries, but does that still stack up?
Here, Telegraph Money reveals the lucrative careers open to those that don’t have a degree – and some pay up to £65,000.
High salary jobs that don’t require a degree
Wage growth has remained at a strong 5.7pc, according to the latest official figures. However, unemployment levels have soared by 133,000 to 1.5m, a rate of 4.4pc.
In the wake of the pandemic, a strong demand for workers had companies jostling for top talent, offering high salaries and cost-saving perks. However the so-called “talent war” appears to be winding down.
Against this backdrop, business leaders and politicians alike have turned cold on university degrees. When he was Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, disparaged so-called “Mickey Mouse” degrees and vowed to increase funding for apprenticeships instead.
The careers outlined in the table below show how much someone at the start of their career could earn, having achieved A-levels but without any university education. The jobs are for junior and entry level positions, excluding managerial roles.
School leavers who opt not to go to university can still have ambitions of earning lucrative salaries early on in their careers, according to data from Adzuna, another job site. There were more than 800 vacancies listed for estate agent roles in July, with an average salary of £53,097.
Blue-collar jobs also offered high pay for entry-level positions, with average pay for several skilled labour jobs exceeding £45,000. These included insulation workers (£55,040), welding inspectors (£52,825), and riggers (£51,144).
Other high-paying roles, such as those in pension consultancy, would require specific qualifications, but not necessarily a degree. Adzuna said there were 108 vacancies on the site in July, with an average salary of £63,820.
This year saw a surge in demand for Java developers, with 2,145 vacancies advertised this year compared to just 96 in 2023, and an average advertised salary of £71,808 – up £3,858 from last year.
Andrew Hunter, of Adzuna, noted that there “isn’t much differentiation between different types of A-level and the different salary pathways a choice can lead to”.
He added: “School leavers not choosing to go to university should take heart, the subjects chosen will likely have little impact on entry-level earnings, and instead it will be the skills you hone on the job that can bump you up the pay charts.”
What’s more, those who eschew the university route will also avoid years of student loan repayments – which even high earners find difficult to pay back.
Higher education ‘still holds significant weight’ with employers
Despite increased attention and funding for alternative paths for university, research from hiring platform HireVue found that university degrees “still hold significant weight in the recruitment process in the UK”.
The company’s survey of HR professionals found that while 78pc believe their organisations offer equal opportunities for candidates without degrees, 86pc acknowledge they can’t do without zoning in on academic achievement before they make hiring decisions.
Tom Cornell, of HireVue, said: “The picture is clear: there is a marked unconscious bias towards candidates with university degrees.
“To overcome this hiring bias, businesses need to integrate skills-based assessment into the core of their recruitment process. In return, they will get a much fairer – and more accurate – tool to evaluate candidates for job competencies.”
Less than a third of businesses use “skills-based approaches” when hiring, HireVue’s research found. A mere 14pc of businesses surveyed by the platform had gone as far as to drop degree requirements from their job listings.
One explanation for this is the increasing use of artificial intelligence by hiring professionals. Companies have been known to use AI-powered filters to sift through thousands of applicants, meaning those without a degree on their CV may find themselves automatically filtered out. Others have gone as far as to use AI in the interview process.
Mr Cornell said: “The current job market is paradoxical: more people are unemployed, job vacancies are still abundant, and yet there seems to be a shortage of suitable talent.
“This is because there is a significant flaw in the current hiring processes, and the solution lies in broadening the talent pool to identify more suitable candidates with better-suited skills.”
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