Is prioritizing the ROI of Higher Education really new?

In 1996, I was working as an admission counselor at a private liberal arts institution in the Midwest. To facilitate applications and enroll students from outside the region, I would hold a series of off-campus admission receptions before the application deadline for prospective students in my territory – the Northeast – where students and families were way college-search savvy.  One administrator I took on the road with me as a featured speaker was our Director of Career Development. She was a dynamic engaging speaker, who was also doing amazing work, helping students find whatever their next steps were post-graduation. She was a rockstar in promoting the institution’s career preparation work and could facilitate a student’s conversion to application.  Note again this was 1996.

So, while I am dating myself, the notion of promoting the value or ROI of higher education via outcomes is not something new.  Recently, I’ve heard and read more and more in podcasts or via written work about the importance of communicating the outcomes and ROI of higher education.  Strangely, the way the outcomes communication concept is being pitched is that this is something new.

While my ego will allow me to say I am not a complete nitwit, if I was engaging in the ROI and outcomes conversation 30 years ago at a small private liberal art institution in the Midwest, clearly this work has been going on for some time.

Flash forward, now that I have a college senior, who is in the middle of her post graduation employment quest, I’m spending more and more time assessing career development centers at different institutions to better understand the types of services and resources they offer. At the same Midwest liberal arts institution where I worked in 1990’s, that institution has doubled down on career development by employing over 20 full-time staff for an institution that enrolls about 2,000 students. They have heavily invested in ROI and outcomes to ensure students are positioned to launch in whatever professional endeavor they aspire to.

However, what I’ve seen at many institutions, is no linkage between the advancement office and the career development center. This is where alumni contacts, alumni databases, and alumni networking opportunities come to life.  This is where the institution needs to shine relative to the cost of attendance investment a family has made in the institution.  Especially given the earnings test associated with OB3, institutions are even more on the accountability hook for demonstrating ROI and outcomes. 

At the pre application level, admission offices need to talk prominently about the outputs versus the inputs of the college experience.  This involves up-front communication relative to professional placement rates (which I know can be manipulated to some degree, but at least it’s a starting point), what organizations recruit on campus, where recent graduates are employed, and yes, the earnings associated with different programs to now remain federally compliant.  I should mention also the importance of graduate school placement rates as well as the percent of students who decide to attend and where.

To go a step further, I believe from a value proposition perspective, highlighting the percent of students who graduate with at least one internship, study abroad, or research experience could be an amazing ROI pitch.  For example, if 40% of students study abroad, 15% engage in independent research, and 35% complete an internship, this means that 90% of students have completed at least one experiential learning opportunity during their college experience – quite the value proposition ROI pitch. 

Telling recent alumni career or employment stories via digital and social media in addition to highlighting prominent alums professional experiences are a no brainer.  Inviting organizations to campus or offering specific industry seminars moderated by alums are other no brainers.  Taking high achieving students on the road to specific industry hubs (think New York for finance, Washington DC for government, Chicago for marketing just as a few examples) are important institutional investments in student outcomes.

Today, higher education is often accused of not “effectively telling their story”.  Communicating the ROI and outcomes associated with the institution is a critical piece to articulating an institution’s value – that is not new – but should be put on steroids.