A bachelor’s degree remains the surest path to economic mobility, stable employment and associated social benefits, especially for first-generation students, students who struggle to fund their education and students of color. Still, current and prospective students question whether a college degree is worth the time, effort and money.
To get a post-graduate perspective of the value of a higher education program, the Strada Alumni Survey queried alumni about how higher education has influenced their lives and attempted to measure the benefits of higher education so institutions can improve current practice and policies to benefit students after graduation.
The survey’s five overarching findings provide insight into the priorities that institutions should focus on to deliver success after graduation.
- Students’ educational goals include learning, career and personal growth, and more than 90 percent of respondents reporting strong learning outcomes.
- At least three-quarters of college alumni say they experienced one of three postgraduation outcomes: an earnings benefit, the belief that their education was worth the cost, or achieving their goals. However, only half of surveyed alumni realized all three outcomes.
- Graduates say their courses and professors were very valuable to them, but experiences and support that connects education to career opportunities were less common and not as uniformly valuable.
- Post-graduation, alumni who reported quality experiences connecting their education to career preparation as students also earned more money and were much more likely to say their education was worth the cost and helped them reach their goals.
- Alumni across all fields of study who said their college or university helped them develop in-demand professional skills are more likely to say their education helped them achieve their goals.
In general, the stronger the connection alumni see between their higher education program and the career, the more likely they are to say they had a successful outcome.
Strada’s previous research identified three reasons graduates pursued higher education degrees: career, income and personal goals. The current alumni study looked at how well institutions were delivering on those aspirations.
The most common motivations for pursuing higher education, according to the alumni study, are career related. About 87 percent said they enrolled in a higher education institution program to qualify for good jobs; 86 percent said it was to gain skills to help them succeed at work; 84 percent said the decision was to advance their careers. Financial reasons include the ability to support self and family and make more money, and personal motivations include learning new things, becoming the best person I can be and being a good role model.
Racial Disparities
Unfortunately, survey results revealed that colleges and universities aren’t meeting the needs of students of color. Black alumni were more likely than white alumni to express that career-related goals were extremely or very important to them, but they were much less likely to report that their college education helped them achieve these goals. Racial disparities point to the need for institutions to ensure that all graduates are able to realize the full benefits of higher education.