Lumina Foundation State of Higher Education 2024: The Lumina Foundation and Gallup have partnered to publish the 2024 State of Higher Education report, which measures the attitudes of U.S. adults toward postsecondary education, their interest in pursuing a credential, enrollment or persistence barriers, as well as the issues that currently enrolled learners face in their programs. Researchers found that, among adults without a degree, the same percentage of respondents value an industry certification (75%) as much as a bachelor’s degree (75%).
More findings below:
- 84% of respondents cite career outcomes (salary increase, promotion or higher-paying job) as the reason they are enrolled or considering enrolling in a postsecondary credential program.
- 51% of currently unenrolled adults say they intend to pursue a credential within the next five years, more so for individuals 25 or younger than for older populations.
- The most common persistence barriers include cost and work conflicts.
- Across enrolled learners, 74% rated their program quality very good or excellent, but fully in-person students responded more positively (81%) than those completely online (68%).
Guided Career Pathways and Community College Students: The Community College Survey of Student Engagement in collaboration with Jobs for the Future has published a report about how guided pathways are preparing community college students to meet their postsecondary and career goals. Researchers learned that over 90% of learners reported choosing a career path but were missing vital information for career advancement, with only 21% of students saying their college contributed “very much” to their local job market knowledge.
Top findings below:
- Work-based learning participants were likelier (71%) to say their coursework provided information about the skills needed for their chosen career path than non-participants (44%).
- 64% of individuals who have chosen a career path never used counseling services.
- Only 22% of students who have chosen a career path reported that their college “very much” helped them learn about the average earnings for their chosen career.
- 30% of learners received career pathway guidance from counselors, 29% from friends/family, 28% from instructors and 13% from current employers.
College-to-Jobs Stakeholder Briefs: The Project on Workforce at Harvard University has published a series of briefs for policymakers, educators and employers that offer practical recommendations and an outlined vision for an integrated education-workforce system. Researchers published briefs covering a range of topics, including college-industry partnerships, work-based learning (WBL), economic development and more.
A few recommendations from across the series are described below:
- Postsecondary institutions: Select a single department as the decision-making authority for employer relations to streamline processes and contacts for businesses.
- Employers: Compensate learners for WBL to ensure that underresourced individuals who cannot dedicate time to unpaid work can have meaningful experiences.
- Policymakers: Use the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act’s authority to implement a state strategy with an agenda for a unified education, workforce and economic development system that includes cross-sector collaboration, clear outcomes and direct investment in key areas.
Comments