When asked about how they paid for what they considered their most important license, 71% said they used their own money while 19% reported tapping into government or private loans and nearly 25% said they received support from their employer. 

Ama Takyi-Laryea, a Pew senior manager who contributed , said up until now, there’s been a gap in knowledge about how individuals are financing this level of skill acquisition, even as the number of people pursuing credentialing is rising dramatically.

“Having data to inform different pathways towards quality credentials — no matter what form it takes — is what’s essential right now,” she said.

A third of all adults in the United States have a nondegree credential, Pew found, and of those, 18% also have a college degree.

Michelle Van Noy, director of Rutgers University’s Education and Employment Research Center, said understanding where the money is coming from for certificates and professional licensing sheds light on whether that type of education and training is being properly supported.

“If we see so many people paying on their own, we want to know if this is fair for people who are trying to seek out these pathways,” she said. 

The underlying data for the Pew report comes from the pilot, a survey of 15,734 respondents, ages 16 to 75, administered by the U.S. Census Bureau. For a number of key indicators, this dataset is the only nationally representative source, according to researchers.

Nondegree credential programs are typically designed to train students in specific skills, like dental assisting or computer programming. There is no industry standard definition, yet they differ from associate and bachelor’s degrees in a number of ways: they are often much shorter in duration, ranging from a few weeks to less than a year; they are offered by both accredited and unaccredited schools — as well as businesses, associations and government agencies — and they can expire.

Critical to the cost consideration is the fact that they have historically been ineligible for government aid, though recently passed will mean that starting in July 2026, federal Pell Grants for low- and middle-income students can be applied to select accredited programs.

When asked about their most recent vocational certificate vs. their most important active license, the financial sources shifted: fewer people (about half vs. roughly 70%) said they paid using their own money, about the same amount (20% vs. 19%) reported relying on loans and the number looking to their employer for funds shrunk from nearly 25% to 15%.

“It is concerning that most students pay out of pocket for their sometimes-costly NDCs [nondegree credentials], especially because one study found that over half of these programs’ hourly costs minimum wages across 15 states,” according to the Pew report.

Researchers found that the annual rates at which people recall earning nondegree credentials tripled between 2009 and 2021. During this time, rates in vocational certificate attainment jumped from 0.4% to 1.2% and those earning professional licenses jumped from 0.5% to 1.6%. Researchers noted that these shifts occurred against the backdrop of waning enrollments in traditional college programs.

Nationally, over 1.1 million credentials are available, ranging from big tech certifications to community college programs, yet quality and outcomes are highly mixed, according to by the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute. They found that only about 12% of programs lead to significant wage gains for workers beyond what their peers make without the credentials.

And while the top 10% of credentials boost annual earnings by almost $5,000 within a year of completion, the average credential increases earnings by just $1,200, and “many credentials fail to move the needle at all, leaving learners exactly where they started,” according to the report.

“Without better data and transparency, countless Americans risk wasting time and money on credentials that lead nowhere,” the AEI report says.

This variation in quality, paired with a scarcity of reliable data, â€śleaves people to sort of fend for themselves, “ Rutgers’ Van Noy said. “It points to this larger systematic problem.” 

While these initial findings provide significant new information and are “the best we have,” Pew’s Takyi-Laryea stressed that they have limitations and should be viewed as a jumping off point for future work. 

She said forthcoming research will look more granularly at payment methods; analyze educational pathways that lead to these programs and the industries they’re in; and look at student perceptions of their programs in terms of both value and quality. 

The goal is to allow students to make better-informed decisions and for states to set guardrails. This is particularly important as state-level investment in these programs has significantly increased, with to short-term credential initiatives.

“I cannot stress enough the need for researchers to fill these data gaps around quality and value for students, for states that are investing heavily in these programs, for employers — even for the providers,” Takyi-Laryea said.

Almost half of 13- to 17-year-olds surveyed last fall say they would prefer to learn that the legacy of slavery is still felt today, while 40% say they’d prefer to be taught that slavery no longer affects Black Americans. Nearly identical shares of parents surveyed by Pew in 2022 expressed the same preferences. 

Eleven percent of teens say topics involving race should not be taught at all, while 8% say racism has not come up in class. Twice as many Black teens as whites and Latinos believe they should learn that slavery’s impact is still being felt.

Almost two-thirds of teachers say students should learn about slavery’s legacy, according to the report. A majority (58%) believe their state officials have too much influence over what is taught, while 71% feel teachers don’t have enough say.

As many parents (31%) would prefer their children learn that gender can be different from sex at birth as want students taught that gender is determined by sex at birth; 37% are opposed to any discussion of gender identity in school. Half of teens say the topic should not be taught, and the remainder are divided on whether students should learn that sex is determined at birth. Fourteen percent say LGBTQ topics have not been mentioned in their classes. 

A majority of Republican teens (56%) don’t think they should learn about gender identity in school. Among Democratic teens, 42% would prefer to learn that a person’s gender can differ from their sex assigned at birth, versus 8% of Republicans.

The Pew report is the latest opinion survey to find stronger public support for teaching about race than about LGBTQ people and history. Like the new research, polls conducted by the , Educators for Excellence, and others have found similar sharp partisan divides and wide demographic gaps among adults.

The report provides new context about how people who favor instruction on race and gender identity want the topics framed, as well as about students’ comfort levels in classrooms where the discussions take place. Nearly 1,500 teens who are not homeschooled were surveyed.

Teens’ responses about what they believe should be taught and whether they’re uncomfortable when race and LGBTQ topics are raised in class do not indicate what their personal views are, notes Juliana Horowitz, Pew associate director of research. The survey did not probe teens’ school environments or ask about their sexual orientation or gender expression. 

Among teens who say the issues have arisen, 38% are comfortable when race comes up in class, versus 21% who are not. Regarding LGBTQ topics, 29% are comfortable while 33% are not. In both categories, the rest of those surveyed reported feeling neutral.

The survey also found racial, ethnic and political divides. One-third of Black teens feel uncomfortable when racism or inequality is raised in class, compared with 19% of white students and 17% of Latinos. Youth who say they lean toward the Democratic Party are more at ease than their Republican peers, with 43% and 33% saying they are somewhat or very comfortable. Almost one fourth of Republican-identified teens express discomfort, versus 18% of Democrats.

The data doesn’t reveal why students are uncomfortable, says Horowitz: “We don’t have information about the school environment that they’re in. For example, we don’t know if this is more the case among Black teens who are in class with mostly teens who are white or who are not Black, or if this is across the board.”

suggests people are most comfortable talking about race with those who share their background, she adds.

While 79% of Black teens would prefer to learn that the legacy of slavery is still felt, as would 68% of Democratic youth, just 41% of white teens and 45% of Latinos do. A majority (60%) of Republican teens would prefer to learn that slavery no longer has an impact on Black people.

Pew also asked adults whether they believe parents should be able to opt their children out of learning about race and LGBTQ issues. More than 80% of white Democrats say parents should not be allowed to remove children from lessons involving race, compared with 65% and 61% of Black and Latino parents. White Democrats also oppose allowing parents to opt out of instruction on LGBTQ topics in larger numbers than other groups, with 60% saying no, versus 42% of Latinos and 34% Blacks. Four in five Republicans say instruction involving LGBTQ people should be optional.