While the U.S. Department of Education has delayed releasing a proposed rule on measuring whether graduates earn enough to cover their college debts, the Government Accountability Office released a report today finding that 26 states are already collecting such information by linking labor data with lists of degree holders. Some states use the information to determine the education level of the work force, for example. But the GAO noted that there were concerns among state officials it contacted about how the information might be used: Some of them “cautioned against potentially inappropriate uses of the data, such as holding institutions accountable for the employment outcomes of graduates, noting that such outcomes are often beyond schools’ control,” the report says.
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2 Responses to Most States Already Collect Employment Data of College Graduates
kreaves - September 27, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Florida is one of those states. The problem is the institutions can’t get any of the information back from the data submitted. I’m not talking about salaries for example, but who is employed and were. That would go a long way in helping us track students.
arrive2__net - September 28, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Non-personal statistical data could be useful for a number of uses, including evaluating the economic impact of the universities. However its not clear to me how you would interpret exchanges of graduates between states. Such data would not necessarily portray the attraction power of universities for business and population, since the image and culture of a state can be influence by the apparent competence of their higher education establishment. College education, and college graduates and their earning power also benefit at the regional and national level which can have a secondary effect benefiting the state. Bernard SchusterArrive2.net