Competency-based education (CBE) is an educational system that emphasizes sequential mastery of discrete individual skills or learning outcomes instead of critical analysis or abstract thinking. In early 2009, President Obama jointly addressed Congress, establishing a goal for the country to regain its former status as the nation with the highest proportion of college graduates by the year 2020. Reducing costs, fostering career readiness, and improving transparency are all aims of this initiative, and CBE has the potential to further each of these goals. This paper will seek to establish CBE as a viable alternative to a traditional four-year bachelor's degree, given the current economic and technological landscape of the United States in the context of the Obama administration's education policy agenda.