Do employers actually verify education?
I’d be extremely upfront about it, instead listing your university experience like this in the “education section” of your resume: University of X, 200x-200x Your Major Go on to talk about any other work you did – research, organizations, internships – in other parts of your resume. You make no claim to have a degree, but it’s obvious that you did pass the initial hurdles to admission and lasted a while there, and an interviewer can see that you’ve got nothing to hide or be ashamed of – lots of people didn’t have the financial opportunity to finish college when and if they chose, and if you could have gone back feasibly, you would have. Presumably you’d also have glowing references from previous jobs, since you’ve got so much experience. And really, regardless of what Official Resume Protocol seems to dictate, feel free to re-imagine what the document can be and do for you. As long as it’s professional and reflects who you are, tweak it until you’re happy with it. Good luck.
My partner has a B.A. but not in the field he works in. Some years after college, he did a bunch of coursework in his field (programming) without earning a degree. He lists that part of his education as something like, “School, year-year, coursework in…” and then highlights the most relevant coursework (I think this section has gotten less detailed as the years have passed and he’s gained experience as a programmer, which matters more than whether he has a degree). This isn’t exactly analogous to your situation, since he does have a degree, but it’s another idea of how to list your college experience. On re-reading, I see you have 15 years of relevant experience. Given that, I’d be surprised if somebody wasn’t thrilled to hire you, B.A. or no. I wouldn’t take the risk of lying.
