Beyond Completion Challenge

As a field, higher education has experienced a continuing evolution in how to measure success. For nearly five decades success efforts were focused on access, followed by the past decade and a half pursuing completion, and the field now has a growing focus on the value of a degree and student outcomes beyond completion.

Strada Education Network announced today the winners in the initial phase of a $10 million grant challenge aimed at helping higher education institutions identify and expand new solutions that will improve career and life opportunities for more students of color, first-generation students, those who struggle to afford education, and adult students and workers.

Recent Strada research points to a striking disparity between first-year students’ aspirations for career planning in their undergraduate years and seniors’ actual experiences.

Strada’s prior research on undergraduate perceptions of the value of their education demonstrates that students value their education most when they receive support to connect their education and career interests.

NSSE and Strada researchers identify gaps in social capital development in 2021 NSSE career preparation data

We know a college degree is required for many jobs in the United States. Yet nearly two-thirds of Americans never earn a degree. Google’s Lisa Gevelber, chief marketing officer for the corporation’s Americas region, says short-term credential programs could be the key to improving career opportunities for more people — and they might even create a more equitable labor market in the process.

More than 18 months into the pandemic, the employment headlines can seem like an algebraic riddle: If U.S. employers are seeking workers to fill 10.9 million jobs, how can 8.4 million workers be unemployed?

In the wake of historic pandemic-related enrollment declines, postsecondary institutions have responded by developing and expanding innovative approaches to engaging learners.

Economist Beth Akers insists she’s not a college debt crisis denier. College is expensive — more than double the cost today compared to the 1980s. And too many students pay too much for it, she said, not only in relation to what they can afford now, but also to what they will earn after graduation.

Is the so-called “student debt crisis” really a crisis? Author Beth Akers brings an economist’s view of postsecondary education’s return on investment and says, on average, college is still worth the price — if you do it right.

Recognized Economic and Workforce Development Leader to Join National Nonprofit in January 2022

As provost and later president at the University of Utah, Ruth Watkins called out the “hollow promise” a university delivers to college students who have access to higher education but leave without completing a degree.

Courses, faculty receive high marks, but valued education-career connections are less consistent, and females, first-generation, Black alumni are less likely to report successful outcomes

The baccalaureate degree remains the surest path to economic mobility, employment stability, and a host of associated social benefits.

Deborah Santiago’s parents always made clear she and her three siblings would go to college.

Grant competition seeks to connect learning with employment for first-generation students, those who struggle to afford education, and students of color.

A college or university can be deemed a “Hispanic Serving Institution” if at least a quarter of its students are Latino. But Deborah Santiago, co-founder and CEO of Excelencia in Education, says serving Latino students is about more than just enrolling them. It’s about supporting their journey through college graduation and into the workforce. Deborah and I discuss the Seal of Excelencia, and along the way we learn about her own journey growing up in a military family and pursuing her education as a first-generation college student.

Roslyn Clark Artis grew up in southern West Virginia, the only African American in her graduating class. The daughter of a coal miner, she dreamed of becoming a lawyer and applied to every public university in her home state, hoping to find an affordable route to college.

$25 million grant from Strada Education Network taps the collective experience and insights of HBCU leaders to scale experiential learning and leadership development within the college experience .main-content__header-area .header-image .text-box { max-width: 100% !important; text-align: center; }

New organization will allow each constituent part to focus on mission delivery, gaining operating efficiencies by leveraging support services from Strada

Surveys and interviews with 2020, 2021 high school graduates who postponed their education plans due to COVID-19 also show advising, financial assistance, career relevance are important to bringing students back to campus.

The declines in postsecondary education enrollment made headlines throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, but what does that mean for the students behind those statistics?

Most people agree we need to improve economic mobility in this country. How to do that is another question entirely. Join Strada Education Network’s Ruth Watkins as she talks to educators, employers, and innovators about their best ideas for the future of education and work.

Report also finds that more respondents rate shorter nondegree programs as worth the cost than longer ones

Nondegree credentials have been growing rapidly for decades. Questions about their quality and value, however, remain.

Disrupted high school graduates cited stress, anxiety, and uncertainty as having the greatest influence on their decision to delay further education — and they say guidance, affordability, and connections to career would help them re-engage.

Recent high school graduates share why their education plans were disrupted, and what types of support could bring them back

Combination to Create a Leading Labor Market Analytics Company

From its onset in early 2020, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has upended life across the world, leading to uncertainty around health, work, finances, education, and a host of other issues.

Strada Education Network’s latest survey finds that 32 percent of adults whose education plans were disrupted by COVID-19 are no longer enrolled or planning to enroll, up from 10 percent last spring

Will Pandemic-Disrupted Learners Return to School?

Insights from National Experts

Recruiting, hiring, and training improvements are here to stay, employer survey says

This career exploration and readiness program’s formula for learner success combines social capital, self-discovery to launch career pathways for first-gen grads

Just half of college alumni feel it was worth it to take out loans to attend college, with even lower levels of satisfaction from Black and Latino alumni about their loans.

Over the past 15 years, the number of student loan recipients has increased by 51 percent and the debt associated with those loans has more than doubled. More Americans are borrowing more money to go to college

Strada Education Network’s latest Public Viewpoint research finds that fewer than 4 in 10 Black alumni and less than half of Latino alumni feel that it was worth taking out their student loans—but strong career support boosts their assessment.

We asked alumni nationwide who had borrowed money to go to school if their loans were worth it.

Growing up in San Francisco, Ebony Beckwith attended an academically selective high school where most of her classmates were university-bound. She opted for a different path, heading directly into the workforce while winding through several community colleges before realizing she needed that four-year degree to reach her career goals.

Invest now in community colleges to fuel economic opportunity

Talent Path’s Learn-and-Earn Model Bridges Skills Gap Between College and Career

Gerald Chertavian believes every young adult has potential and deserves a clear pathway to a great career, whether through college or directly into the workforce. And as founder and CEO of Year Up, he’s proving that with the appropriate training and employer support, it can take as little as one year for “opportunity youth” — 16- to 24-year-olds who are neither working nor in school — to move from poverty to a well-paid, in-demand career, often with a Fortune 500 company. 

Can the pandemic induce higher education to jump-start the future of learning?

Amid a pandemic crisis characterized by stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions, the leader of the career center at Stony Brook University describes its fallout with an unexpected word: freedom.

Bill Hansen to Step Down After Eight Years Leading Nonprofit Social Impact Organization