Enhancing Student Success: Policy Solutions for Employment Metrics and Net Price Calculators

1. SREB Go Alliance Annual Meeting, April 26, 2019 Neha Dalal The Institute for College Access & Success ndalal@ticas.org

2. An independent nonprofit that promotes affordability, accountability, and equity in higher education through policy research, design, and advocacy • Dual focus on federal and California state policy • 15 years of work on increasing access to grant aid, simplifying and improving student loans, improving consumer information, and protecting students from predatory or substandard schools

3. Employment Metrics Are One Way to Measure Student Success

4. Current Employment Metrics Do Not Meet Three Key Criteria 1 Consistent and Meaningful Definition 2 Accurate Collection and Verification 3 Accessible by Students and Others

5. 1 Consistent and Meaningful Definition An uncoordinated array of federal, state, and accrediting agency standards leads to inconsistently defined employment metrics across institutions and programs

6. Job placement rates provide an example of how much definitions can vary 1 Consistent and Meaningful Definition

7. Employment metrics can be collected in three main ways 2 Accurate Collection and Verification

8. Institutional reporting of job placement rates has become notorious for inaccurate information Counted work at one-time one day health fairs, some of which were held at the request of the school - Career Education Corporation, $10.25 million settlement Paid temporary agencies to hire its graduates to work at short-term, temporary jobs at its own campuses and counted these graduates as placed - Corinthian Colleges, $1.1 billion settlement 2 Accurate Collection and Verification Counted placements clearly not within a student’s field e.g. “a business administration graduate working as a waiter at the Cheesecake Factory” - DeVry, $100 million settlement

9. To be accessible, employment metrics must be disclosed on a central public platform and/or by institutions • Research finds that in order to be useful, public disclosures must: • Be widespread, consistent, clear, and understandable • Avoid overwhelming consumers with information • Stick out and appear worth reading • Be presented when consumers are acting or be memorable • Facilitate action 3 Accessible by Students and Others

10. Employment Metric Tips

11. Policy Recommendations 1 Standardized, Verifiable Job Placement Rates for Career Education Programs Nationally Comparable Threshold Earnings Rates for All Programs 2

12. Recommendation 1 1.1 Federal, state, and accrediting agencies should take steps to create standardized, verifiable job placement rates for career education programs including by: 1.2 1.3

13. Recommendation 2 2.1 The federal government should create and publish a nationally comparable, program-level threshold earnings rate through a federal data match by: 2.2 2.3

14. Net Price Calculators

15. Financial Aid Tools in the College Decision Process Estimated Bill Options Including Loans College Scorecard FAFSA Financial Aid Award Package Review and Comparison Net Price Calculators

16. What Are Net Price Calculators? • Online tools that provide students with early, individualized estimates of college costs & financial aid https://www.cambridgecollege.edu/net-price-calculator/

17. Importance of Net Price Calculators Almost half of students continue to look at “sticker price” when considering colleges instead of costs after subtracting financial aid.* 2008 HEA reauthorization requires institutions to have a net price calculator on their website in order to participate in Title IV financial aid • *The College Board and Art & Science Group, LLC. 2015. • http://www.artsci.com/studentpoll/2015/june/index.aspx.

18. Challenges With Net Price Calculators • Surveys have found that net price calculators may not be easy to find, use, and compare. • Recently reintroduced bipartisan, bicameral bills would solve many of these challenges. Find Links are often buried, listed under alternate names, or broken Use The number and difficulty of input questions varies substantially, and many calculators do not provide any information on how data will be used or shared Compare Output format varies substantially, and key figures may be calculated differently or may not be prominently featured

19. Net Price Calculators Tips • Keep in mind: • Results are estimates, not final aid awards • Estimates apply to a particular year • Grants, loans, and work-study are different

20. Additional Resources • Employment metrics: https://ticas.org/content/pub/metrics-and-markets • Net price calculators: https://ticas.org/net-price-calculator-publications-and-resources • Neha: ndalal@ticas.org