Graduate Job Placement Rates

1. Opportunities and Challenges Graduate Job Placement Rates

2. What kinds of jobs do students have when they graduate? The U.S. Department of Education is working to provide information about the average earnings of former undergraduate students at York Technical College who borrowed Federal student loans. In the meantime, ask York Technical College to tell you about how many of its graduates get jobs, what kinds of jobs they get, and how much those graduates typically earn.

3. Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Gainful Employment Placement Rates and NCES Methodology The regulations at 34 CFR 668.6(b)(1)(iv) provide that institutions that prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation must disclose the placement rate for students completing a GE Program, as determined under a methodology developed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

4. Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Gainful Employment Placement Rates and NCES Methodology Until NCES is able to develop a placement rate methodology, institutions required by their accrediting agencies and/or State to calculate a placement rate on a program basis must disclose these placement rates and identify the accrediting agency and/or State agency under whose requirements the rate was calculated.

5. The Completion Arch:Measuring Community College Student Success CollegeBoard Advocacy and Policy Center Job placement rates …While a number of states report employment outcomes for students who have enrolled in a community college or completed a community college degree or certificate, the way in which these outcomes are reported and the populations on which outcome measures are based vary widely, making it difficult to compare these measures across states.

6. July 16, 2012 In Job-Placement Rates, Fuzzy Data A lack of standard tracking makes many colleges' claims unreliable By Timothy Sandoval …Since 2008, the federal government has required colleges to disclose any placement rates they calculate to prospective students who request the information. … The problem is that there are no standard questions or even agreed-upon standards…

7. Policy : Instructional Program Evaluation • Legal Authority: Section 59-5310, et. Seq. of the 1976 Code of Laws of South Carolina • In order to satisfy the accountability requirements set forth in state law, technical colleges will conduct an annual evaluation of all associate degree, diploma, and certificate programs offered at the college.

8. Procedure 3-1-301.1 • Job Placement: Fifty percent (50%) of the graduates of a diploma or a degree program available for job placement must be placed on a job related to their education or continuing their education on a full-time basis. • Graduates who are deceased, disabled, or not actively seeking employment are excluded from the job placement criterion.

9. South Carolina Technical College System

10. South Carolina Technical Colleges

11. 2010-11 SCTCS Graduates Highest Placement LowestPlacement 95.6% 74.3% Unemployment Rate: 13.25% Unemployment Rate: 8.7% • Correlation of College Placement and Service Area Unemployment Rates: .26

12. Consistent, Reliable, Valid? • No. • State-wide Work Group: • Two Chief Academic Officers • One also Chief Student Services Officer • Three Institutional Effectiveness Coordinators • Several System Office Staff • Represented Four Technical Colleges • Two small, one medium, one large

13. SCTCS Statewide Procedural Recommendations These recommendations are intended to ensure consistency across the state as it relates to program evaluation reporting. Colleges may make minor adjustments as deemed appropriate based on available resources. Remember that processes should be documented, auditable, and consistent from year to year.

14. Four Step Process • Gather list of graduates from reporting system • Query graduates against one or more sources: • National Student Clearinghouse (preferred) • SC Department of Employment & Workforce* (preferred) • US Department of Defense (optional) • Lexis Nexis (optional)

15. Student Tracker service • Detailed enrollment records by individual student • All types of institutions • More than 3,300 colleges and universities • Enrolling more than 96% of higher education students • No limits on queries • Available for a modest fee (free with participation in DegreeVerify and reporting of additional data elements)

16. eTRACK Service • Provides three types of reports: • Determination of individuals' employment status • Industry of Employment based on the North American Industry Classification System's six-digit coding; • Employment and Summary Wage report • $1.90 per “hit” • Data available quarterly • Significant delays in data availability

18. Four Step Process • Follow up with deans, department heads, etc. to identify placement for graduates not found using above sources • Colleges will use a common worksheet to track communication with graduates • Enter student placement data into centralized reporting system • Note if student is ‘on job’, ‘in school’, or both • Special note if student is in military

19. Consistent, Reliable, Valid? • Yes. • System prepared to answer questions about placement data validity. • More meaningful information.

20. Questions? Mary Beth Schwartz mbschwartz@yorktech.edu Cathy Almquistcathy.almquist@tridenttech.edu