college-choice-career

Is this state tool the future of college choice for students?


When it comes to students’ college choice, a new online state-based tool emphasizes the importance of career possibilities.

Editor’s Note: The way students are choosing college is rapidly changing due to economic considerations. This tool could have a direct effect on your institution’s enrollment rate if implemented in your state.

Reader Question: Do you think this tool can accurately guide prospective students on their college choice? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below or take our short poll on Page 2.

Janeth Mancha, a high school senior at MESA High School in Colorado, said she originally wanted to major in theater. But thanks to her state’s new data-based online college choice tool, she quickly realized a double major in both theater and business was a better option.

“I had a reality check in what I wanted to do,” said Mancha about Colorado’s “Launch My Career” tool. “When I saw my return on investment [ROI] for theater was negative, I realized that maybe that wasn’t my best option. From that day on, I thought about other things that I love to do, and how I can incorporate my passion for theater in another career.”

Calculating Mancha’s ROI for not only her major but her college choice wasn’t speculative. Instead, it’s one of the many valuable data-based insights part of a new generation of free college planning tools being rolled out by USA Funds, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Gallup and the American Institutes for Research/College Measures.

Rather than just providing one specific set of data to students, such as cost of a major, or average national employment rate via major, the tool puts all metrics into one tool for students interested in attending a college or university within a specific state. All metrics are state-specific as well.

“What I really liked about this website is that I could choose the lifestyle that I want when I grow up. I could see if I could afford a brand new car or if I would have to buy a used one. I could see if I could live in a house or if I would have to live in a studio,” explained Mancha. “Based on the lifestyle I want, being a theater major would not allow me to have children, or live in anything more than a studio. This tool helped me decide what would be best for me and my future, and any arrangements I would have to make to ensure I live the life I want.”

(Next page: How the college choice tool works; its metrics; future rollouts)

How the Tool Works

The “Launch My Career” state tool has so far been implemented in Colorado and Tennessee, with rollouts for Minnesota and Texas expected in 2017. The “Launch My Career” project is one of four new models of the College Value initiative that USA Funds is supporting with nearly $3.5 million in grant funding across 12 states.

Each state-specific tool includes information on:

  • What students can expect to earn following graduation based on specific college programs.
  • The demand for jobs in a field of study both statewide and for select metropolitan areas.
  • Whether students’ planned education pathways will allow them to achieve their lifestyle goals and how long it will take to achieve those goals.
  • How much more a student pursuing the college program can expect to earn over 20 years compared with what a high school graduate earns.
  • Whether others who have pursued the same college program are happy with their jobs and satisfied with their lives.

Both Colorado and Tennessee were early adopters of the tool thanks to support from key government and education leadership and from employers, such as the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry. These states were also some of the first adopters due to their access to the longitudinal data systems that made these tools possible, said Carol D’Amico, executive VP of National Engagement and Philanthropy at USA Funds.

According to D’Amico, College Measures developed the websites, Gallup provided the data on graduates’ non-economic returns from college (i.e. engagement and satisfaction with their jobs and overall satisfaction with life following graduation), and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation oversaw the project as the recipient of the USA Funds grant.

“Students are looking for ways to demystify the process of selecting a college,” said Mark Schneider, a vice president and institute fellow at AIR. “Launch My Career TN offers them real information on the kind of return they might get for their investment in higher education. It allows them to select a degree program or institution based on their interests or preferred jobs, and then compare how that degree stacks up against the same degree from other colleges.”

Each state-based website uses state-specific higher ed and workforce data that is typically updated on an annual basis before the beginning of the school year, said D’Amico. “For individual majors from different institutions, the sites offer information about graduation rates, average time to completion, first-year wages of graduates, average cost of the degree, and how much more a degree holder would earn over the next 20 years compared to a high school graduate.”

And though each site will have common elements for explaining the ROI of college choice, each state choosing to adopt the tool “will have opportunities to adjust the tool to reflect specific state needs or priorities,” she said.

Out-of-state students who are considering attending colleges and universities in these states can also use these tools.

A Compass for the Future

D’Amico explained that states will track the usage of these sites as well as changes in college choice in order to determine whether or not the tool is successful.

However, the tool has already been successful in changing at least one life. “This tool helped me decide what would be best for me and my future, and any arrangements I would have to make to ensure I live the life I want,” said Mancha.

After realizing a theater major wouldn’t provide the life she wanted, at least in the state of Colorado, Mancha began an interest in pursuing a theater/business double major. “The reason I want to do this is because I want to start my own performing arts company to empower youth. I want low income students to have the opportunity to do things I couldn’t do at their age because of money issues of the lack of arts in my area.”

Mancha, who learned about the state tool during a session when she interned at Junior Achievement Business Week, said she has already recommended the “Launch My Career” tool to her peers and friends, and once school begins, plans on asking her teachers if they could incorporate a lesson plan on the tool so that her classmates “can look at their options just like I was able to do.”

“Ultimately, USA Funds hopes that college-bound students and their families will adopt these tools as part of a new model for selecting college programs, one that looks to college outcomes, such as employment, career opportunities and wages,” concluded D’Amico. “We also hope these resources will spark a new dialog among higher education leaders and employers in each state that will lead to better alignment of the postsecondary programs offered and the skills needed in the workforces of each state.”

The Launch My Career sites in Colorado and Tennessee, along with the prospective sites in Texas and Minnesota, represent just one of four different models USA Funds is supporting to better measure the value of college and other postsecondary programs for consumers, policymakers and higher education leaders. There is more information on the other three projects on their College Value website at www.educationvalue.org/grantees.

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