As a person from a rural area, please don't assume we have no college graduates. That's not the problem. Low pay & a high administrative burden are huge issues; focus on them. A college degree is an objective measure. I hear people say non degree holders with compassion are better, but it is hard to measure compassion in a job interview. DMAS runs this system as a complicated and difficult to navigate bureaucracy and the degree requirement helps to protect persons served. If you insist on removing that protection, add protection somewhere else. The human rights process is abysmal and the straight truth is the human rights of folks with ID/DD are violated routinely. If DMAS wants to solve their provider problem by lowering provider quality guardrails, make them also make the paperwork and rules more user friendly and implement a vigorous human rights awareness, education & implementation process.