Community College Students Who Transfer to For-Profit Colleges Earn Less

February 4, 2014 2:45 pm
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—Community college students who transfer to for-profit colleges earn less than students who transfer to public or private non-profit colleges, concludes a new study from the Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment (CAPSEE).

The study is the first to examine the income effects of transferring to a for-profit college from a community college. Earlier studies, including a recent study from CAPSEE, have compared earnings for students who attend community colleges and for-profit colleges and found that students who attend for-profit colleges are less likely to be employed after college and earn less on average than community college students.

For this study, CAPSEE researchers analyzed the earnings of 80,000 first-time, degree-seeking students who enrolled in community college during the 2000s and transferred to another college or university. Student incomes were tracked via state unemployment insurance data through the beginning of 2012.

The study found that there were significant differences in the community college students who chose to transfer to a for-profit institution: Black and Hispanic students, and students who performed poorly and accrued fewer credits at the community college were far more likely to transfer to a for-profit than a non-profit or public college.

Even when controlling for these differences in student characteristics, however, the study found that students who transferred to for-profit colleges earned 6-7 percent less than students who transferred to non-profit or public institutions.

The study also found that students who transferred to for-profit colleges had higher earnings whilst in college. Students who attended for-profit colleges saw a decline in income of $130-$270 per quarter; by comparison, the decline in income for students enrolled in public colleges was four times as large, and for students at non-profit colleges, the decline was ten times as large. This difference—the lower ‘opportunity cost’ of attending for-profit colleges—may explain why these colleges are attractive to low-income students.

However, the earning gains after leaving college were significantly higher for public and nonprofit college students. Over time these gains more than offset the ‘opportunity cost’ differences. Looking over ten years, for-profit students experienced net earnings gains of only $5,400, whereas public and nonprofit college students experienced gains of $12,300 and $26,700 respectively. These figures do not account for the higher tuition costs at for-profit colleges.

The wage penalty for transferring to a for-profit college was consistent across subgroups of students, although the penalty was greatest for for-profit students who did not complete a degree.

Black Males: Strategies For College Readiness

February 3, 2014 1:43 pm
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From College Board

During the high school years, teens lay the academic and social groundwork for their future. But too many of the 1.7 million young Black men, ages 14–18, spend those crucial years of schooling battling obstacles that can jeopardize their future college and career trajectories.

Steering Black male teens to success during their high school years was the topic of ETS’s 17th Addressing Achievement Gaps Symposium. You will find timely discussions about these issues in the latest edition of ETS Policy Notes: Black Male Teens: Moving to Success in the High School Years. Published by ETS’s Policy Information Center, this issue contains highlights from ETS’s Achievement Gaps Symposium with the same title. ETS Policy Notes (Vol. 21, No. 3) is available at no cost to you here.

During the 2013 symposium, policymakers, practitioners and advocates focused on the latest research, strategies and college- and career-readiness models aimed at creating high schools that provide opportunities for Black males to succeed. The purpose was to highlight the unique challenges facing these young men and to examine the most effective practices for schools and communities to adopt to help close achievement gaps and foster college and career success.

Employers Want To Know What Is In A Degree

February 1, 2014 11:55 am
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By Jim Lanich, California Business Council

Legislators, employers, and parents are pushing colleges and universities to demonstrate whether their students can compete in the workforce before they exit. There are couple of reasons that colleges are beginning to use these exit exams. First, parents and students alike want to know that their money spent is a sound investment in their future. Second, there’s a dearth in the labor market for highly skilled and knowledgeable workers. A recent study by the American Institute of Research reported that fifty percent of graduates of four year colleges and seventy- five percent of graduates of two year colleges are below proficiency in literacy levels. These data are alarming. It tells us they don’t have the skills to perform real world tasks like comparing two different healthcare plans or analyzing two sides of an argument. Exit exams in college are catching on slowly due in large part to a existing culture at universities, especially exclusive universities, that is focused on nputs like GPA, SAT scores, resumes of incoming students rather than their outputs like graduating young adults prepared to be successful in the work force. There is an an opportunity here for the labor market to bridge the gap between higher education and the job market by starting the conversation with colleges and universities and articulating what career readiness looks like from their perspective. This will further another trend in education- alignment of the K-16 to workforce pipeline. Read More

Why Do First Year College Students Drop Out?

January 30, 2014 8:35 am
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A recent study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research uses a new, dynamic model to understand factors other than financial constraints that contribute to a student’s decision to drop out of college. NBER’s study attributes 45% of the dropout that occurs in the first year of college to what students learn about their academic performance. To learn more about the policy implications, check out the study here. (New to the ECS Database)

College Experience From 2002 to 2014 For 2002 High School Sophomores

January 29, 2014 9:30 am
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In 2002 this survey followed high school sophomores until 2014. There are some interesting findings. 84% have some college, but only 33% have a BA. 60 % of the college students took out loans. See more below:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/highly-educated-highly-indebted-the-lives-of-todays-27-year-olds-in-charts/283263/  It’s interesting how many 27 year olds get a degree and how few don’t graduate high school.

 

Liberal Arts Graduates Fare Well In Employment

January 28, 2014 9:13 am
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How Liberal Arts and Sciences Majors Fare in Employment: A Report on Earnings and Long-Term Career Paths

By Debra Humphreys and Patrick Kelly

Student, parents, and policy makers interested in the “return on investment” of college education tend to place unwarranted emphasis on the choice of undergraduate major, often assuming that a major in a liberal arts field has a negative effect on employment prospects and earnings potential. This new report—which includes data on earnings, employment rates, graduate school earnings bumps, and commonly chosen professions—presents clear evidence to the contrary. It shows not only that the college degree remains a sound investment, especially in these difficult economic times, but also that—as compared to students who major in professional, preprofessional, or STEM fields—liberal arts majors fare very well in terms of both earnings and long-term career success.

Order your print copy today.

Also available for purchase in eBook Version (PDF).

Read an excerpt of this publication online.

Frequent Tests can Enhance College Learning

January 27, 2014 9:40 am
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Grading college students on quizzes given at the beginning of every class, rather than on midterms or a final exam, increases both attendance and overall performance, scientists reported Wednesday. The findings — from an experiment in which 901 students in a popular introduction to psychology course at the University of Texas took their laptops to class and were quizzed online — demonstrate that the computers can act as an aid to teaching, not just a distraction. The article is in The New York Times.

Majority Of College Students Not A Good Match For Their College

January 23, 2014 10:48 am
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College-Student Mismatches
A new study reports that a majority of students are mismatched in college — the quality of the college they attend does not match their academic ability. Mismatch has implications for the design of state higher education systems and for student aid policy. Learn more here. (New to the ECS Research Studies Database).

A Defense Of The Residential Liberal Arts College

January 22, 2014 9:17 am
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THE POWER OF THE RESIDENTIAL UNIVERSITY
University of Evansville President Thomas Kazee writes in the Huffington Post: The din of voices clamoring for educational reform, including President Obama’s, has threatened to drown out attention to what should be a key driver of our national educational policy. How do we ensure that college graduates in this country have a fundamental understanding of how society works — how the complex pieces of our social order fit together? More online education, more competency-based credits, more certificates and “badges,” more focus on how much our graduates earn in their first job — all of this is understandable in a world that seems increasingly credentials-crazy. To assume, however, that true education is simply a matter of bundling such loosely connected experiences until one satisfies requirements for a credential is misguided and ultimately a recipe for national weakness, not strength.

Source: Carnegie Foundation

Complete College America Claims Much Progress

January 21, 2014 8:50 am
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By Stan Jones

26 states have implemented or are working toward performance funding for their public institutions. 22 states (and the District of Columbia) have committed to significantly increase the number of remedial college students who complete college-level math and English within their first year. 15 states are deploying extensive “15 to Finish” campaigns. And another 11 states are developing plans for either structured schedules or Guided Pathways to Success. There’s no doubt: our Alliance of States is making progress to boost college completion, and the year ahead brings with it exciting opportunities to build upon that momentum.

Complete College America has launched into 2014 with an ongoing laser-like focus on increasing the number of Americans with a college degree or credential of value and closing attainment gaps for traditionally underrepresented populations. With the release of our most recent report, The Game Changers, we have pinpoint the five best college completion strategies and provided a clear roadmap for achieving significant results. Everything we do in 2014 – our events, publications, and our brand new website – will reflect this steadfast focus on these proven strategies.

In support of these efforts, I had the privilege last week of joining postsecondary education leaders from across the country at a White House summit centered on expanding college opportunity. At the event, it was my great honor to recognize the 23 Alliance of States members that have committed to ensuring more remedial education students succeed in our public higher education institutions.

In addition, we’ve already held our first in-state academy of the year with West Virginia, collaborating with state and institutional leaders who recognize that remediation reform is a critical element in closing the skills gap and securing our economic future. As we look to the year ahead, we are preparing for additional high-impact technical assistance events that focus on the Game Changers.

In the coming months, we will ramp up our efforts surrounding Guided Pathways to Success in STEM, an initiative spearheaded by five grant recipients (D.C., Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Ohio) that were announced at the end of last year. Thanks to our partnership with the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, these states and their ambitious plans will provide a blueprint for the rest of the country as we work to increase the number of STEM graduates coming out of American higher education.

In late December, Tennessee was announced as the first of three states to receive a $1 million grant from the Lumina Foundation for Education in partnership with Complete College America. The three-year grant will help the state’s institutions provide clearly sequenced degree plans to students that will help them follow the best and shortest paths to graduation. The other two states will be announced in the coming weeks, and 2014 will yield substantial work in this area.

Complete College America’s mission is as important as ever. We’ve seen this country come a long way through efforts to improve access, and, as a result, the freshman class looks more like America than ever before. But, as a nation, we still have work to do to ensure that graduating classes also look more like America. By focusing on the best strategies and growing our alliance of policy makers, thought leaders, and postsecondary education officials, we will see a day where many, many more Americans have the degree needed to secure their economic future and strengthen our states and nation. On behalf of all of us at Complete College America, we’re honored to be a part of this work and look forward to working with all of you in the coming year.

posted by Stan Jones