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College degree requirements may be becoming more flexible among small businesses as owners reconsider which credentials are actually necessary for a job.
According to a new Small Business Expo Research Team survey of 421 small business owners, 62.0% said they would hire someone without a college degree for a role that previously required one. Another 25.9% said it would depend on the position, while only 12.1% said they would not.
The findings suggest considerable openness to changing established hiring criteria—but they don’t necessarily mean small business owners believe college degrees have lost their value.
Highlights
- 62.0% would hire someone without a college degree for a role that previously required one.
- 25.9% say it would depend on the position.
- Combined, 87.9% are at least open to reconsidering a previous degree requirement.
- Only 12.1% say they would not hire someone without the previously required degree.
Nearly 2 in 3 Would Hire Without the Previously Required Degree
The clearest finding is the 62.0% who answered an unqualified “yes.”
The wording of the question is important. Respondents weren’t simply asked whether they would ever hire someone who hadn’t attended college. They were asked whether they would hire someone without a degree for a position that previously required one.
That distinction suggests many respondents are willing to reconsider established college degree requirements rather than automatically treating them as permanent screening criteria.
The finding also comes amid a broader push toward skills-based hiring, which emphasizes whether candidates have the capabilities needed to perform a job rather than relying primarily on formal credentials. Opportunity@Work estimates that more than 75 million U.S. workers are “STARs”—workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes rather than a bachelor’s degree.¹
College Degree Requirements Aren’t Fixed for Most Owners
The 25.9% who answered “it depends on the position” adds important context to the results.
Combined with those who answered yes, 87.9% of respondents are at least open to hiring someone without a degree for a position that previously required one. Just 12.1% reject the idea outright.
That doesn’t mean nearly 9 in 10 owners have eliminated degree requirements. Instead, it suggests that previous college degree requirements aren’t necessarily an automatic barrier for most of the small business owners surveyed.
Current job-posting data reflects a similarly nuanced labor market. Indeed Hiring Lab reported in January 2026 that 51% of U.S. job postings did not specify a formal education requirement, while 19.3% required a bachelor’s degree or higher as of November 2025.²
For 1 in 4 Owners, the Position Still Matters
The 25.9% “it depends” response also makes clear that the findings aren’t a wholesale rejection of higher education.
Certain positions may require specialized education, technical knowledge, licensing, or other qualifications that make formal education particularly relevant. For other jobs, employers may decide that experience, demonstrated skills, certifications, or previous work provide sufficient evidence that a candidate can perform the role.
That distinction is an important part of skills-based hiring: removing a degree requirement doesn’t necessarily mean lowering hiring standards. Instead, it can mean determining which qualifications are actually necessary for a particular position.
Despite growing interest in this approach, implementation remains uneven. Research from the Burning Glass Institute and Harvard Business School found that employers’ announcements about removing degree requirements have not always translated into substantial changes in who they ultimately hire.³
Final Takeaway
The survey doesn’t suggest that college degrees have stopped mattering to small businesses. It points to something more specific: many owners appear willing to question whether a degree requirement that existed in the past still needs to exist today.
With 62.0% willing to hire without the previously required degree and another 25.9% open to doing so depending on the position, the findings suggest greater flexibility around college degree requirements among the small business owners surveyed.
For employers, the question may increasingly be shifting from “Does this candidate have the expected credential?” to “Does this candidate have what it takes to do the job?”
Footnotes
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Opportunity@Work. Building an AI-Ready Workforce: A Policy Playbook for a Skills-Based Labor Market. September 16, 2026. https://www.opportunityatwork.org/about/press-release/opportunity-at-work-releases-policy-playbook-for-skills-based-hiring-ahead-of-midterm-election-season
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Indeed Hiring Lab. Where Do College Degrees Still Matter in a “Skills-First” Job Market? January 28, 2026. https://hiringlab.indeed.com/2026/01/28/where-do-college-degrees-still-matter-in-a-skills-first-job-market/
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The Burning Glass Institute and Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work. Skills-Based Hiring: The Long Road from Pronouncements to Practice. https://www.burningglassinstitute.org/research/skills-based-hiring-2024
Related: What Would Small Business Owners Do With an Extra $80K?