Degrees of Value: Evaluating the Return on the College Investment. ES Select

Autor/inn/en	Gillen, Andrew; Selingo, Jeffrey; Zatynski, Mandy
Institution	Education Sector
Titel	Degrees of Value: Evaluating the Return on the College Investment. ES Select
Quelle	(2013), (8 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Higher Education; Employment Potential; College Students; College Graduates; Outcomes of Education; Investment; Education Work Relationship; Costs; College Attendance; Enrollment; Debt (Financial); Paying for College; Economics; Economic Impact; Cost Effectiveness + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Arbeitsmarktbezogene Qualifikation; Beschäftigungsfähigkeit; Collegestudent; Hochschulabsolvent; Hochschulabsolventin; Lernleistung; Schulerfolg; Investments; Geldanlage; Investiton; Cost; Kosten; College; Colleges; Attendance; Hochschule; Fachhochschule; Anwesenheit; Einschulung; Studienfinanzierung; Volkswirtschaftslehre; Ökonomische Determinanten; Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse; Kosten-Nutzen-Denken
Abstract	As a knowledge-based workforce has transformed the American economy over the last several decades, few people have questioned the value of higher education. Enrollment has surged at all types of colleges--up by more than one-third in just the last decade--as the college credential has become the ticket to a better life. From a purely economic standpoint, the numbers back up the prevailing wisdom that college is worth it: College graduates earn more and are less likely to be unemployed than those with only high school diplomas. But with the onset of the Great Recession in 2008, the perimeters of the value debate in higher education began to shift. Higher debt, along with stories of college graduates living in their parents' basements or working as baristas at Starbucks, is leading prospective students and their families to increasingly ask the value question: What will we get in return for our investment in college, especially if we are taking on significant debt? Often it's not that students and families are questioning the value of college per se, just the value of attending certain colleges. The answer to the value question is ambiguous, often dependent on factors unique to each student and college pairing, such as campus preference, location, or fit. Graduation rates and earnings data are helpful, but in their current state, incomplete and difficult to access and interpret. Students need simpler tools that allow them to pull up the information they need--from graduation rates that account for all students (or students like them) to lifetime career earnings that go beyond the first, often poorest, year-after-graduation salaries. With more comprehensive, accessible data, institutions will have a clearer picture of their outcomes, and prospective students and their families will have a better chance of answering the value question. For decades, higher education has been selling its economic returns as the primary reason students and families should pay ever-increasing tuition prices. Colleges can no longer simply cite the national averages that they have relied on since the 1970s to sell their degrees at nearly any cost. Higher education has been selling the degree premium for decades as a reason to pay its ever-escalating prices. Now the time has come for colleges and universities to help build a system that gives better information on the value of a college education. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Education Sector. 1201 Connecticut Avenue NW Suite 850, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 202-552-2840; Fax: 202-775-5877; Web site: http://www.educationsector.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01