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America’s focus on higher education has, quite fairly, focused on the anti-Israel protests–which have often veered into overt antisemitism–that have hit college campuses since last October 7. The protests are newsy and fit neatly into a persistent criticism of higher education, namely that it has a double-standard that empowers doctrinaire progressivism. Yet that is not the biggest controversy facing higher education. There is another controversy that receives less attention but is happening at a far greater scale. More worryingly for postsecondary institutions, it is one that unites Democrats, Republicans, and independents against them. 

It is the gross mismatch between the graduates postsecondary institutions are producing and the skills the economy desperately needs. This mismatch is impeding progress on Republican and Democratic priorities, from economic competitiveness to national security to the green energy transition. 

Postsecondary institutions must start steering students towards the professions our economy needs or risk having policymakers do it for them. And if policymakers take the wheel, higher education will not like the results. Federal policymakers, after all, spend over $310 billion every year on higher education, and they may begin to wonder if they’re getting an adequate return on investment. 

While employers have long carped about the skills of recent college graduates, the problem today is far larger and more measurable. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are over 7.4 million job openings right now.  Yet the bigger problem for our economy is where so many of those job openings are. We’re short 163,000 skilled fabrication workers (think welders and steelworkers), or roughly 9% of all jobs in the industry. We’re short 157,000 repair workers, 107,000 business operations specialists, and over 400,000 registered nurses and nursing assistants.  

Republicans, already skeptical of postsecondary institutions–President-Elect Trump lost college-educated voters by a 55-42% margin–are happy to hit higher education on this point.  Indeed, they’ve been banging this drum for a decade. Marco Rubio attacked universities in 2015, saying America needed “more welders and less philosophers.” Yet postsecondary institutions should not convince themselves that this is nothing more than a talking point for the GOP. Republican concerns are genuine and well-founded. The lack of skilled tradespeople could stop top-tier Republican priorities in their tracks. It’s not just that skilled labor shortages hinder economic growth, though they do. It’s that they hinder our very security. The U.S. Navy is on track to have a shortage of 100,000 skilled tradespeople for our submarine industrial base alone. Defense contractors and the military entities responsible for maintenance and upkeep (like NAVSEA and the Defense Logistics Agency) have “many tens of thousands” of openings. 

As President-Elect Trump has been explicit about his desire to “rebuild our depleted military,” his administration will find such labor shortages inexcusable. 

Universities and community colleges, however, should not think that their problem is only with Republicans. The inability to produce enough skilled tradespeople is holding back Democratic priorities, most notably combatting climate change. After all, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the fastest growing jobs over the next decade will be wind turbine solar technicians (60% growth rate) and solar panel installers (48%). This is on top of the fact that the energy transition is already suffering from acute labor shortages. According to Jay Miles of RP Construction Services, the solar industry “could use a 30% increase in headcount” just to get through existing backlogs. 

Without a change in trajectory–ideally led by postsecondary institutions but potentially led by policymakers–the clean energy transition will fail due to lack of skilled labor. That realization will force even the most sympathetic progressives into a reckoning with higher education.  

Making big changes in higher education requires consensus; students, faculty, administrators, alumni, state legislators, Boards of Regents, and governors are just some of the stakeholders who could veto. 

Yet the need for change is obvious, as are the tactical changes institutions could implement. Postsecondary institutions need to start advising students to enter more skilled trades, be it at the community college level for electricians and welders or the bachelor’s degree level for fields like registered nurses. They should actively recruit students interested in those fields. They should also build their capacity to teach greater numbers of students in those fields. As falling enrollments are a major concern, postsecondary institutions could even see their ability to place students into competitive, high-paying careers with decades of job security as a competitive advantage.

Eventually, the conflict Israeli-Palestinian conflict will fade from the headlines. Protestors will leave their encampments and go back to class. The hotter controversy on our college campuses will dissipate. Yet, the consequences of the deficiencies in postsecondary institutions will simmer on, holding back graduates and our country for decades to come. 

It’s up to higher education to change course. One way or another, it must. 

About the Author: Neal Urwitz

Neal Urwitz is a Senior Vice President at Antenna Group. He served as a speechwriter for and advisor to the Secretary of the Navy in the Biden Administration.