Dustin Lange worked his way up the ranks of at a property management company in Newark, Ohio without a college degree. His income as a vice president at the company put him in the top quartile for earnings nationally.

But when he got laid off at age 34, he was left in the lurch. Lange found his high school diploma was no longer enough to get an equivalent job in the real estate industry. And throughout the economy, the jobs promising a middle income wage and a employment growth now require at least some post-secondary education.

So Lange has had to retool and recalibrate his lifestyle. He moved out of his big house in a well-groomed development on the other side of town and he’s gone back to school to become a nurse.