WASHINGTON – Employment data on college graduates needs to be accurate, comprehensive, verifiable, comparable, transparent and accessible for the benefit of students seeking post-secondary education, and the federal government should play a key role in making that happen, according to recommendations in a study released by The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS).
Under the current system, it is almost impossible to get a truthful reading of results from the higher education sector, which accounts for about $500 billion annually and for which the federal government, state governments and accrediting agencies share oversight accountability, according to the report, “Of Metrics and Markets: Measuring Post-College Employment Success.”
“It’s bizarre that we still cannot accurately measure employment outcomes.” said Neha Dalal, one of the report’s authors, at a briefing Tuesday at the US Capitol Visitor’s Center.
The reason no one can is threefold, according to the study, which received funding support from the Lumina, Century, and Laura and John Arnold foundations: employment metrics between schools and degree programs can’t be compared because definitions and measurables vary across accrediting agencies; differing data collection methods across states and self-reporting of job-placement rates and starting wages produce inaccurate and unverifiable numbers; and the information isn’t clear or easily accessible to students and other stakeholders, even if it were accurate.
Rather than reliable information that can inform prospective students’ critical decisions about college, degree and career choices, the status quo offers students “an array of employment metrics calculated by different subsets of colleges and programs at the behest of states, accreditors, and the federal government, and using a variety of definitions. The resulting patchwork of uncoordinated data makes meaningful comparison across programs and colleges near impossible and leaves major questions about the accuracy and reliability of the available information.”
Such a system is detrimental to students, said TICAS president James Kvaal.
“It’s troubling that the information students have is not as good as it could be or should be,” he said.
