For decades, a college degree has been considered the key to unlock economic prosperity in the United States. College degree-holders have, on average, earned higher wages than those without degrees, which has contributed to large and persistent US income inequality. The [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic, associated economic disruption, and tight labor markets may be upsetting those trends. The college earnings premium appears to be declining for the first time in decades and, in 2021, 40 per cent of recent college graduates were working in jobs that have not required a bachelor's de... Show more
For decades, a college degree has been considered the key to unlock economic prosperity in the United States. College degree-holders have, on average, earned higher wages than those without degrees, which has contributed to large and persistent US income inequality. The [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic, associated economic disruption, and tight labor markets may be upsetting those trends. The college earnings premium appears to be declining for the first time in decades and, in 2021, 40 per cent of recent college graduates were working in jobs that have not required a bachelor's degree. Simultaneously, the value proposition of college is beginning to fade in the eyes of many in the American public. As higher education costs continue to skyrocket and student debt mounts, increasing shares of Americans are reconsidering whether college is truly worth the expense. Declining college enrollment numbers provide additional cause for caution.
Colleges are being called on by the public to improve economic outcomes for their students. In the wake of this disruption, leaders in the college ecosystem are modernizing long-standing programs and launching new initiatives to improve student connections to the workforce and enhance their career trajectories after college. However, to date, those initiatives have received too little attention both in higher education budgets and public policy priorities. Encouraging educators and policymakers alike to commit more resources to these efforts requires a better understanding of what helps students move from education into good jobs. In this playbook, we provide a framework to help college better deliver on the American Dream. We create a coherent, comprehensive taxonomy of the landscape of college-to-jobs programs and policies through a review of the existing academic research according to a set of common criteria. With a focus on public two-year and four-year colleges, Minority Serving Institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities, we identify 13 'interventions' within the college ecosystem that could be used to ease the transition into good jobs in the workforce.
Excerpts from publication.
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