Career Tips & Advice

Health Care Jobs Without a Bachelors Degree

Concorde Staff

Concorde Staff

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Updated January 10, 2018. The information contained in this blog is current and accurate as of this date.
health care jobs

It's a good time for those interested in health care jobs, but don't care to invest a ton of time in school to get there.

The path to landing a job in health care doesn't have to be long and strenuous. When you think of health care jobs, you might automatically think of four years of undergraduate college, followed by four more years in med school and maybe even a 3-7-year residency after that. But, as a couple of recent articles attest, it's a good time to find health care jobs that don't require even a bachelor's degree.

PBS recently published a piece on its NewsHour site which states that, because the U.S. has been pushing high school graduates to go to college for academic degrees so long, there's now a shortage of vocational and trade workers. And, Monster.com recently published a story that listed tons of health care jobs one can get without a bachelor's degree.

 

U.S. needs more tradespeople

 

According to the PBS story, the state of California is spending $6 million on a campaign to revive the reputation of vocational education and $200 million to improve the delivery of it.

"It's a cultural rebuild," said Randy Emery, a welding instructor at the College of the Sequoias in California's Central Valley.

In California's community colleges, the number of students taking vocational courses has dropped to 28 percent from 31 percent since 2000, contributing to a shortage of trained workers with more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor's degree.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., last year focused attention on the vocational vs. academic debate by contending during his presidential campaign that "welders make more money than philosophers."

The U.S. has 30 million jobs that pay an average of $55,000 per year and don't require a bachelor's degree.

 

Health care jobs that don't require a bachelor's degree

 

According to the Monster.com article, more than half of health care employment in 2014 was in occupations that typically don't require a bachelor's degree. This was according to the most recent available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On track to become the largest jobs sector in fewer than three years, now couldn't be a better time to break in, according to the article. Health care support occupations and health care practitioners and technical occupations projected to be the two fastest-growing occupational groups, according to BLS data.

The Monster article broke various health care jobs into industry groups and listed the jobs. Here are the groups, along with the specific health care jobs for which Concorde has programs.

Diagnostic imaging - Radiologic Technologist

Therapy services - Occupational Therapy Assistant, Respiratory Therapist, Physical Therapist Assistant, Massage Therapist

Patient care - Surgical Technologist, Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurse, Medical Assistant

Dental care - Dental Hygienist, Dental Assistant

Laboratory Services - Medical Laboratory Technician

Other technicians - Pharmacy Technician, Health Information Management

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