Conference Highlights Growing Importance of Student Economic Outcomes as Measure of College Quality

NEW YORK, NY (October 17, 2014) — Researchers, policymakers, and higher education leaders came together to discuss “the value of higher education—and how to further strengthen it” at CAPSEE’s September conference. Scholars from CAPSEE and elsewhere presented research on state-level labor market outcomes and federal financial aid programs; state agency representatives illuminated how they calculate and use labor market outcome data to inform higher education policy; and college leaders discussed how information on student employment outcomes helps them strengthen programs and pathways.

Employers Value For-Profit Degrees Less, New Study Finds

NEW YORK, NY (October 6, 2014) — Employers are less likely to call back job applicants with business degrees from online, for-profit colleges than those with degrees from nonselective public universities, a new experimental study from the Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment (CAPSEE) has found.

Returns to Associate and Bachelor’s Degrees Remain Strong Through Great Recession, New Study Finds

New York, NY (April 1, 2014) — A new CAPSEE study finds that despite the huge growth in unemployment during the years termed the “Great Recession,” students who enrolled in community colleges and completed an associate degree—or who went on to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree—experienced consistently stronger economic returns and were less likely to be unemployed than community college students who accumulated some college credits but no degree.

Community College Students Who Transfer to For-Profit Colleges Earn Less, New Study Finds

NEW YORK, NY (January 27, 2014) — Using student progression and earnings data in two states, a new CAPSEE paper examines labor market outcomes for students who enrolled at for-profit colleges after beginning their postsecondary education in community college. The authors find significant penalties for transferring to a for-profit college instead of a public or private nonprofit college.

CAPSEE Researchers Propose Major Reforms to Financial Aid Policy

NEW YORK, NY (October 21, 2013) — In an October forum hosted by Brookings Institute’s Hamilton Project, two CAPSEE researchers presented proposals on changing financial aid and student lending policy to improve college outcomes. The proposals, described in detail in two papers released by Brookings Institute, address the issues of low completion rates for Pell Grant recipients and the rising “debt repayment crisis” facing American college students and families.

March 2013 Year Two Meeting

NEW YORK, NY (March 8, 2013) — In the second annual convening of the Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment (CAPSEE) held on March 8, 2013, at Teachers College, Columbia University, researchers, community college administrators, and state higher education officials from around the country gathered to discuss methodological issues and preliminary findings from the first year and a half of research on labor market outcomes for a wide variety of postsecondary pathways.