While many politicians have tossed around the term “free college,” few have been outspoken about the need for transparency on college outcomes. In the end, students and their families will still wonder whether the college they choose will give them a credential with economic value.
As luck would have it, the Department of Education has offered up a trove of data on more than 4,500 institutions with an expansion of its College Scorecard. The data offer prospective students and their parents a sharper look at what their investment really means through the lens of tuition cost, debt, and earnings. It can also serve as a vital tool in holding colleges and universities accountable for whether the degrees they confer prove to be valuable financially.
But how do consumers know which schools offer the best returns?
On November 14, we’re releasing a new report that evaluates the return on investment of 4,500 US colleges and universities using net present value calculations of College Scorecard data. We also developed an online table for users to sort institutions by this metric and others.
As the push for transparency in higher education continues, the department is set to release data on program-level earnings by institution. Even more efforts to collect and refine data on earnings are afoot in Congress. The College Transparency Act was reintroduced with bipartisan support earlier this year, and it is included in the Democrats’ new Higher Education Act reauthorization bill, the College Affordability Act.
Free-college plans may make headlines, but, if enacted, they should be complemented by transparency and accountability measures. After all, taxpayers, just like college students and their parents, will want to know that their investment is paying off.
Sincerely,
Dr. Anthony P. Carnevale
