Higher education is a ladder to social and economic mobility and stability, and learning certain skills like leadership, critical thinking, problem-solving and communication, can make the difference in a graduate feeling their time in postsecondary education was both worth the expense and helped them achieve life goals.
While these skills are shown to positively impact the lives of graduates, not all graduates experience the same economic benefits. Female graduates are less likely than their male peers to earn a family-sustaining wage after graduation. First-generation students are less likely to earn over $50,000 after graduation, and Black graduates are the least likely to experience both economic and noneconomic benefits after acquiring these skills. These marginalized students are less likely to agree that the cost of their education was worth its price.
Dr. Nichole Torpey-Saboe, director of research at Strada Center for Education Consumer Insights.
“We hope that colleges and universities really start to hold themselves responsible for what happens to students after they graduate, to measure it, track it, disaggregate it, to see where the inequities are in outcomes,” said Dr. Nichole Torpey-Saboe, director of research at Strada Center for Education Consumer Insights and one of the report’s researchers. “Focus on the skills you’re helping students develop both inside and outside the classroom and how to make those experiences equally accessible for all students.”
The report confirms that while skills in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) correlate with high-earning post-graduation careers, other broad-base skills are also connected with successful post-graduation outcomes. Many of these skills are acquired in collegiate organizations or internships, which working or caregiving students often do not have the time capital to participate in. Torpey-Saboe said it is important that faculty find ways to embed these kinds of skills directly into the coursework students already take.
“But even when students say they’re developing those skills, Black alumni aren’t seeing the income gains everyone else is, and that’s devastating,” said Torpey-Saboe, adding that some institutions are working to change this by connecting minoritized and first-generation students with representatives in their field before graduation. Other institutions, she said, tell employers who come to their campus to recruit a minimum number of diverse scholars.
“You have to hold employers to a higher standard if they’re going to have access [to your campus], make them partners in seeing how you can give students a fair opportunity,” said Torpey-Saboe.
