Photo: Ben Hider

After dropping out of college and taking on a dead-end job, Mateusz Haruza says his dream of a career in technology looked dim. He then learned about a fledgling IBM program that pays new workers without college degrees to receive classroom instruction and on-the-job training.

Such recruiting is a relatively new solution for IBM and other companies that generally require bachelor’s degrees for entry-level white-collar workers. But now, strapped for talent, some employers are reconsidering degree requirements and adopting training systems more common in blue-collar trades. 

Leaders of City University of New York institutions have long known about the impact of non-tuition costs on low graduation rates among their community college students. They tried to address the challenge in 2007 with the successful launch of the CUNY Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, or ASAP.

The effort, which gives low-income students a comprehensive matrix of financial, academic and personal supports, now serves 25,000 students. The model has since spread to other community colleges across the country, including three in Ohio.