3 Ways Higher Education Can Flip the Script on Value

By Scott Pulsipher

1. Improve the relevancy of learning outcomes and credentials: To ensure students derive real value from their education, learning outcomes must align with the rapidly changing opportunities of our future economy, encompassing both enduring and professional skills. While the former—including skills such as reasoning and interpersonal engagement—remain high on employers’ needed skills list, research from the Burning Glass Institute shows that a focus on professional skills—for instance data analysis and marketing—increases graduates’ job prospects and earning potential. Leveraging technology is a smart place to start, with promising startups connecting curriculum designers with employers to ensure students are taught relevant skills and gain exposure to corporations looking to hire. Tech-enabled solutions are also providing higher education institutions with real-time data insights about workforce trends, open positions, and career guidance; and conversely, leveraging data to help existing employees upskill and reskill by connecting them to the educational provider that’s best suited to their needs.
2. Enhance the student experience: There are a multitude of interdependent factors that can positively or negatively influence students’ engagement in their coursework, their overall wellbeing, and their feelings of preparedness for the real world. For instance, the Gallup-Purdue Index found that there are six elements of emotional support and experiential learning in college that are linked to on-time completion and long-term life success. Known as the “Big Six,” they include experiences such as “a mentor encouraged me to pursue my goals and dreams” and “I had an internship that allowed me to apply what I was learning in the classroom.” When we address the full range of students’ social, emotional, and experiential needs, it can make all the difference in how students experience college and life long after.
3. Curve costs: Regardless of what results from President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, it’s clear that the crippling level of student debt in this country is the symptom of a larger problem: too many learning experiences aren’t designed to be affordable in the first place. We can all agree that carefully manicured campuses and state-of-the-art gymnasiums are nice—and maybe worth the cost for a privileged few—but when the majority of an institution’s spending is unrelated to instruction, it’s time to reconsider what matters most to students. In addition to aggressively cutting costs that don’t directly contribute positively towards student outcomes, some institutions are finding success by implementing learning and delivery models that allow students to progress through their courses as soon as they demonstrate mastery, enabling them to complete their credentials more quickly. Alternative sources of education financing that reorient educational and financial institutions away from student loan lending in mass are another avenue worth exploring. When the incentives of colleges, financial institutions, and students are aligned towards a common goal—student success—we can all but ensure that a student’s credentials will merit their cost.

The Postsecondary Value Commission, supported by the Gates Foundation and the Institute for Higher Education Policy, found that nearly 1/3 of all institutions leave their students with zero economic return after accounting for the cost of attendance. It’s sobering to reflect on the impact this has on all students, but devastating to consider how this manifests for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Read the full article at Forbes.