May 9, 2026
The advent of new degree programs that can be completed exclusively via mobile app is begging the question of what higher education means in 2026 and beyond.
Between the rise of AI (1), the proliferation of diploma mills (2), escalating tuition prices (3) and the fact that fewer and fewer employers seem fussed about a degree (4), higher learning has certainly lost the sheen it once held.
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There's been a discernible shift in the public's overall confidence in post-secondary institutions over the last decade — the number of Americans who think higher education is "very important" has fallen from 70% in 2013 to just 35% in 2025 (5), while seven in 10 (6) believe the system is heading in the wrong direction and the majority no longer feel that an education (7) is worth the cost.
Meanwhile, experts argue that certain once-esteemed credentials aren't as popular or necessary (8) as they once were, that academic standards are deteriorating (9) and that many college degrees are "now useless" (10). We've got banking CEOs calling their MBAs a waste of time (11) and other top executives claiming (12) recruiters "aren't even talking about degrees" anymore.
Add to this the abysmal employment market (13) facing recent grads and it's no wonder that negative sentiments regarding schooling have intensified.
But do app-based degree offerings serve to improve or worsen these perceptions?
Degree-by-smartphone — accessible alternative or the new norm?
Cornerstone University, a small, private Christian campus in Michigan, is the first institution in the country to offer accredited Bachelor's, Associate's and Master's degrees that are fully mobile-app based.
The nascent programs — in strategic business management for the A.S. and B.S., and organizational leadership for the M.A. — lower common barriers to entry by allowing students to learn at their own pace, and without having to ever step foot in a physical (or even virtual) classroom.
Cornerstone is also advertising its programs as the "most affordable" (14) of their kind, at $2,400 to $3,750 per four-month semester, with learners able to complete as much or as little of the degree as they want (within an 18 credit hour limit) each term.
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Though the programs, administered through the university's proprietary SOAR platform, have the stamp of approval from the Higher Learning Commission, one may wonder how the unorthodox style, content and format — billed as "engaging microlearning" through videos, audiobooks, podcasts and presentations created by faculty — measure up to conventional degrees.
There's certainly the lack of name recognition; despite decent employment and continuing education rates (15), Cornerstone isn't exactly a highly-ranked (16) institution. But, as LinkedIn and MS Office EVP Ryan Roslansky famously said in a recent talk (17), "the future of work belongs not anymore to the people that have the fanciest degrees or went to the best colleges." Instead, he identified adaptability, forward thinking, and AI skills as of superior importance, along with "innately human" aptitudes, such as communication.
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The "reimagining" of higher education
"If it is incontrovertible that the value of the college degree is in decline and that a new world of work requires new skills, then it is equally certain that a fresh method of teaching and learning those skills is essential," writes Jason Wingard in The College Devaluation Crisis, published by Stanford University Press in 2022 (18) — the same year that ChatGPT was released.
Wingard posits that the typical four-year post-secondary degree model "is no longer sufficient" to meet the goals of the modern learner, and that "the traditional way of preparing for the world of work has gone past its sell-by date."
And indeed, as some eschew American academia for financial, ideological (19) or other reasons, others are seeking (or providing) alternatives to prepare for a new work landscape and stand out from other candidates.
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Beyond Cornerstone's buzzy new option, which already boasts 250 students (20) after an August 2025 launch, a somewhat similar initiative from TED, Canada's Educational Testing Service and the Khan Academy — a non-profit with the mission to (21) "provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere" — was just announced in April.
The Khan TED Institute, as the venture is called, is "a new higher education collaboration designed for an AI‑driven era… to prepare learners for the next generation of jobs while cultivating the uniquely human skills required to thrive in work, life and society amid rapid technological change."
Its program has a heavy emphasis on applied AI skills, along with core math, economics, history, writing and science courses, and courses in leadership and public speaking.
"Students will advance based on measures of real competency rather than seat time, enabling personalized pacing while ensuring every learner leaves with verified competencies," a release (22) states.
But what the most crucial competencies will prove to be in 5, 10, 15 or 20 years is anyone's guess, as some wonder if future developments in AI could make colleges completely obsolete (23) as the tech revolutionizes schooling, work and daily life while simultaneously eroding intelligence in general (24).
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
The Conversation (1); CICIC (2); Forbes (3),(10); CNBC (4); Gallup (5); Pew Research Center (6); NBC News (7); Business.com (8); The Atlantic (9); Fortune (11),(12); Entrepreneur (13); Cornerstone University (14),(15); U.S. News & World Report (16); Business Insider (17); Stanford University Press (18); Changing Higher Ed (19); Fox Business (20); Khan Academy (21); ETS (22); The New Yorker (23); Psychology Today (24)
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Becky Robertson is a senior staff reporter with Moneywise and a lifelong writer. Along with years in the journalism industry at outlets such as blogTO and Quill & Quire, she's participated in writing residencies at the Banff Centre and Writing Workshops Paris. With 33 countries visited, she finds travel to be one of her greatest inspirations.
