We were among many in higher education circles who read the recent report from Yale University’s Committee on Trust with great interest.
To their credit, the Committee produced a well-researched and well-thought report. They took a holistic view of the factors that have fractured, if not broken, trust in higher education. Better still, they offered a pragmatic, reasonable vision for how higher education institutions might work to restore Americans’ trust in our colleges and universities.
Our review carried a specific bent or even bias. We were most curious to see how the Yale committee might address student outcomes. We wondered if they’d measure or weigh the extent to which an institution’s ability to know where its graduates take their degrees, and how this shapes their contribution to larger society, might factor into their deliberations and recommendations.
It’s apparent from the report that the Committee definitely understands how the ever-higher cost of higher education leads to doubts about the value of a degree, and leads to distrust of institutions that provide the degrees. Right up front, the Committee notes that “the soaring price of higher education in the United States, along with the perception that college, graduate, and professional school are no longer worth the money and sacrifice they demand” ranks among the top three immediate drivers of current distrust.
We were a bit discouraged by the Committee’s discussion that perceptions of higher education costs are worse than the reality. We’d submit that the perception is the reality. More and more, prospective students and their parents are asking whether the cost of an undergraduate or advanced degree is within financial reach and whether the investment will be worth it in the long run.
To their credit, the Committee addresses this current-day reality in its recommendation that Yale and other higher education institutions “deliver educational value.”
Unfortunately, the Committee did not offer any concrete suggestions on how Yale and other institutions might go about measuring the educational value their programs deliver.
We suspect the absence of such recommendations owes to the current state of value measurement. From our conversations with administrators and deans across the country, it’s apparent that many institutions lack the data, or the means, to quantify the ROI for specific degree programs they offer. Many regard the task as nearly impossible, while some believe the value of the education they provide culminates with a degree in hand.
Our perspective is different. We believe the same “epochal advances in technology and artificial intelligence” the Yale Committee references hold the key to unlocking more accurate and true measures of educational ROI and value than were previously available.
Today, these technologies help higher education institutions know how their students fare in their careers and how their earnings change over time. Such insights provide a path for administrators and faculty leaders to map curricula and degree programs that will deliver on at least part of the educational value imperative the Yale Committee outlines.
We also view such measurement of educational value and outcomes as foundational to helping higher education institutions deliver on the second leg of educational value they view as critical: A graduate’s contribution to the betterment of society.
This is a laudable and lofty goal. But it’ll remain elusive unless and until higher education institutions can know where their students go after they graduate, and how the degrees they earned shape their personal and professional lives.