Colleges have minimal incentive to ensure their students are getting an education that will lead to higher wages, better jobs, and better quality of life. As a result, today many college students graduate with significant debt, degrees with no value, and find they are eligible only for low-paying jobs, while many colleges charge more every year as they know that taxpayer dollars will make up the difference.
By holding all colleges accountable for delivering a quality education that results in prospects for good jobs, Congress and the Administration can help empower American families to thrive.
Solutions to Support Accountability
All colleges — from elite nonprofit schools to fully online programs — should be held to the same rigorous standards for delivering for their students:
- Build on the SAVE for Students Act introduced by Sens. Cornyn (R‑TX) and Cassidy (R‑LA).
- By creating clear bottom lines for college programs, the Administration can work with Congress to hold institutions responsible for charging too much and delivering too little.
- Incentivize quality.
- The Administration can work with Congress to create new systems of tiered incentives and consequences for institutions based on the return on investment (ROI) they deliver for students and taxpayers.
- Link credentials to outcomes.
- The Administration can make sure all workforce credential programs are of high quality by working with Congress to require strong employment and wage outcomes to receive public funding.
Earning a college degree remains the surest path to financial security and economic advancement. A community college graduate earns an average of $400,000 more over a lifetime than a high school graduate, while the typical bachelor’s degree holder earns $1 million more.
Outcomes vary widely. Some credentials aren’t even worth the paper they are printed on. Hundreds of thousands of students enroll in programs whose typical graduate earns less than a high school graduate; others leave college with unaffordable levels of debt. These graduates would have been better off if they had never attended at all.
Those who graduate from the lowest-performing 10% of graduate programs typically earn a full $50,000 less than graduates from the highest-performing 10% of programs, yet the federal government funds them both equally.
