The 2016 presidential campaigns have begun to focus on higher education in some important ways, with candidates like Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio underscoring the rising cost of college, the impacts of student debt, and how to make college more affordable. Those are critical issues, to be sure, but there’s another way the government could use its resources to help students get exactly the education they need.

Last year alone, the federal government supplied roughly $165 billion in Pell grants, student loans, GI Bill benefits, and other financial aid to help students cover the cost of attending two- and four-year colleges. What if that money were available to pay for high quality postsecondary learning outside of what’s typically considered “college” – for options such as apprenticeships, corporate training, and programs provided through cultural institutions?

For the sake of our students and the economy, it’s worth considering the undertaking. Today’s students have more options than ever before to get an education beyond high school, but federal rules that govern the way they pay for higher education are stuck in the last century.

When the U.S. established federal student aid programs, getting an education beyond high school meant going to an accredited two- or four-year college. In 2015, the education marketplace looks decidedly different. A variety of new postsecondary providers has emerged – from online course-providers to skills based employee training programs, all the way to non-traditional education providers like cultural institutions.  The growth of options has been driven by an increased demand for employees with postsecondary education, and the technological revolution that has made higher learning widely accessible.

But under the current system, students looking to redeem their federal financial aid can only spend those dollars at accredited colleges and universities—a reality that narrows their choices and effectively prices out alternate types of education that, in some cases, better meet their needs.

Today, one out of every five jobs requires some form of postsecondary education that is not a bachelor’s degree, according to Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. So an increasing number of students are attaining a credential other than, or in addition to, a two- or four-year degree. Over the last three decades, the number of certificates awarded has grown by 800 percent, a trend aligned with the growth of jobs that require education outside of our common understanding of “college.”

The myriad of non-bachelor’s pathways include innovative programs delivering specialized knowledge, such as online providers offering courses in the subjects and skills demanded by employers, and brick-and-mortar coding academies designed to train prospective workers for the tech sector. Meanwhile, companies from tech giants like AT&T, Cisco and Microsoft to equipment manufacturers like Caterpillar offer training programs that equip current and future hires with the knowledge required for specific jobs at their companies or using their products.

And as these models emerge, well-established pathways, such as the apprentice model, remain relevant for some of the high-skilled jobs that are in demand today. The Department of Labor recently issued $175 million in grants for registered apprenticeship programs that include education and on-the-job training. 

Other useful programs do award degrees, but not through a traditional college or university. The American Museum of Natural History in New York, for example, confers a PhD in comparative biology to students who complete an immersive and flexible program – although they currently do not offer federal student aid to their students.  Major library systems also have potential to serve as centers of education and issue their own credentials. These options could prove to be viable in serving the growing number of older, working students in pursuit of the education they need for participation and advancement in today’s workforce.

Colleges and universities will continue to have a critical place in educating our country. But if the purpose of financial aid is to open doors for students, and give them more potential pathways in life, then the most effective use of federal aid will place less emphasis on how education is delivered, and more on whether students are receiving the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.

Exploring new approaches to postsecondary education – and allowing students to use their federal aid to pay for it – is already beginning to happen. Currently, federal law permits students to use their financial aid dollars at institutions offering “competency-based” education, a delivery method that awards degrees and credentials based on student learning rather than time spent in a classroom. But even competency-based programs—an effective and innovative way to increase the number of Americans with postsecondary education—face onerous regulations that deter them from getting in the financial-aid game.

In changing the rules of financial aid, we can’t just open the doors for programs to receive federal dollars without carefully thinking through what reforms make sense. It’s critical, after all, to ensure that students don’t end up wasting federal funds and winding up with debt but no credential.

We must consider important questions, like how much funding should be allocated toward programs that, in some cases, cost less than the maximum aid award, so as to avoid price inflation among providers. And we have to think through the right quality assurance system for new providers, one that puts students and their outcomes at the center. These issues and ideas could be explored in a program that tests different approaches so that we can land on the right combination of increasing opportunity and effective consumer protection.

The lead up to 2016 presents a prime opportunity to make financial aid part of the national dialogue.  More money may help, but not unless we think far more creatively about how to allocate it. In doing so, we can create better opportunity for students to get the knowledge and skills they need, and for America to get the talent we need to build a more robust economy.  

Jamie Merisotis is president and CEO of Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation and author of “America Needs Talent: Attracting, Educating & Deploying the 21^st-Century Workforce,” published in September.