Transparency should be part of the higher ed bargain

When the federal government forced for-profit ITT Technical Institute to shutter its operations in September due, in part, to its misleading recruitment information, it sent a strong message to other similar institutions. And it’s not just for-profit schools that market themselves by boasting about their graduation rates and job-placement numbers. So, too, do some not-for-profit four-year colleges and universities to demonstrate credibility and competitiveness.

This is a large part of the implicit bargain students enter into when they sign the dotted line and put their learning and trust in someone else’s hands.

But think about that bargain. It is based on trust, as it should be, but that trust should be verified with transparency. Students entering college should know what the likely job prospects and potential salaries are for each of the many degrees that are offered. This knowledge would enable both colleges and students to better manage costs and maximize return on investment.

ITT Tech’s closure took a staggering toll: more than 130 campuses were shuttered. Nearly 8,000 faculty members and staff lost their jobs. The more than 35,000 students who were enrolled at ITT Tech are now either trying to transfer their credits to new institutions or seeking to have their federal loans forgiven. It is a protracted mess.

Again, transparency is urgently needed. Not only should students know their potential job prospects when they enroll at a college, they should also have access to metrics that allow them to assess the financial health of the colleges they are considering.

Fortunately, the data exists to start piecing that puzzle together. Many metrics can be used to define colleges in distress, such as completion rates, loan default rates, and third-party assessments of a college’s financial responsibility.

If our higher education mission is to endure, we need to place a higher premium on the interests of the students and empower them to live to their full potential.

As a postsecondary education becomes ever-more essential for workers to earn a living wage, these issues will get more scrutiny. We already see a handful of bills pending in Congress to reform operations and assessment of colleges, and there is promise of more in the new session of Congress starting next year. This heightened level of scrutiny and regulation will profoundly affect college operations in the coming years.

Dr. Carnevale is Director and Research Professor of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, an independent, nonprofit research and policy institute affiliated with the Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy that studies the link between education, career qualifications, and workforce demands.