Focus on Employment
The regulatory bodies have always been focused on employment outcomes. Do you believe that focus has intensified? If your answer is yes, what do you believe is the driving force behind the intensity?
Most for-profit colleges advertise to potential students careers. Employment outcomes become the measurement of success of the college's training and development.
Emphasis by the Department of Education is in response to their data that suggests low graduation and placement in some fields. This is particularly difficult on those who have large loan debts and either no educational obtainment or employment in fields with low salaries.
Under the new regulatory guidelines, employment outcomes have in fact become the focal point. As a result, admissions is focusing more on clearly explaining the importance students attendance, professionalism, and material comprehension not only in school but also on the externs.
Greg,
This is good news. I am glad to know that admissions has picked up the gauntlet and risen to the challenge.
Cindy Bryant
Yes, I do believe the focus on employment outcomes has intensified. Some have used the "for profit" education to do just that - make a profit - no matter what the outcome. I think this comes down to accountability. We are offering a service to the students with the understanding that they will be marketable once they receive their education and if they are not receiving the service as promised then we have done a great injustice to our students, the school, and the employers. Transparency!
Yes. This has become a major focal point. In for-profit schools it is important to be able to place students after they graduate. I would never want to enroll a student in a program and have them waste time and money and be unable to use the knowledge and skills they gained in a job.
Yes the focus definitely intensified over the last few years for a number of reasons. The main reason is the economic downturn made it so many people decided to go back to school, thus increasing the loan default rate. The regulations are created to ensure that students are obtaining positions that allows them to pay back their loans and to reduce default rates.
Yes, the focus has intensified over the last few years. I believe the driving force in part is due to the large amount of loans students are borrowing and then defaulting on.
Growing concern regarding student loan forbearance and defaults, the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and the growing need for skilled workers have all served to increase the scrutiny of employment outcomes in the private post secondary sector. APSCU reports (Dec 2012) that by 2020 there will be 50 million new jobs and that 65% of those jobs will require post secondary education.
Traditionally private post secondary institutions are required to compile and publish data on graduate employment either as regulated by our individual states of operation or by our accrediting entity. Public universities are not required to compile, track or report graduate employment.
There have been schools in our sector that have misled students and engaged in deceptive practices. If we are operating with transparency, screening applicants for "ability to benefit" and providing the education we promise, employment outcome reporting should become a normal part of our internal compliance process.
Yes, I do believe the focus on employment outcomes has intensified. I think there are a few reasons for this, but believe the primary motivation is the extreme debt that students have when they complete school. I believe that this, along with the negative image of the career school sector, and the high unemployment rate have increased the focus on employment outcomes.
In my opinion one of the driving forces is the Obama administration and the proposed creation of the college rating system.
Many leaders from the Private education system have criticized this proposed rating system. As I have read about this topic, one of the issues that have created a lot of debate is the component that will evaluate colleges based on post-graduation success of graduates and average salaries. Therefore, creating an unbalance ground for institutions that are career oriented.
More information about this topic can be found here:
http://aaude.org/white-house-rating-system
Andres,
Thanks for sharing your opinion with the forum. To give everyone else an idea regarding the Obama college rating system I have posted the basic points below.
A Better Bargain for the Middle Class: Making College More Affordable
*Paying for Performance
*Tie financial aid to college performance, starting with publishing new college ratings before the 2015 school year.
*Challenge states to fund public colleges based on performance.
*Hold students and colleges receiving student aid responsible for making progress toward a degree.
*Promoting Innovation and Competition
*Challenge colleges to offer students a greater range of affordable, high-quality options than they do today.
*Give consumers clear, transparent information on college performance to help them make the decisions that work best for them.
*Encourage innovation by stripping away unnecessary regulations.
*Ensuring that Student Debt Remains Affordable
*Help ensure borrowers can afford their federal student loan debt by allowing all borrowers to cap their payments at 10 percent of their monthly income.
*Reach out to struggling borrowers to ensure that they are aware of the flexible options available to help them to repay their debt.
Cindy Bryant
Yes, I believe the focus has intensified and most likely for multiple reasons. I believe the strongest factors include: recent complaints of graduates having loans to pay back but not having employment, complaints on dishonest enrolling techniques as well as the growing number of graduates across country going into default. One of the factors that gives the graduates the ability to repay is being employed. Being employed is also the measure of course satisfaction for a graduate: did he/she reach the goal they envisioned upon enrolling.
If students are not able to find expected employment they will be less able to repay any financial aid indebtedness. Rising student loan default rates indicate that the program had insufficient regulatory controls.
