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Informed Decisions:Negotiating High Risk
Propositions
Antoinette TorresAssociate Vice Provost
February 18, 2012
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Background
STEM fields • Under-performance • Under-representation • Continued Access post Hopwood
and Prop 209 • Throughout socio-economics have
been a nefarious factor in student achievement and progression
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Changing Paradigm
To achieve professional, academic and wealth creation goals – the goodness we purport a college education will provide – necessitates a paradigm shift among practitioners to inform college and graduate degree completion and gainful employment among high potential youth• In the past, socio-economic status was a
confounding factor in degree attainment• In today’s higher education landscape it may be a
contributing factor to degree derailment• Participation in the health professions in particular
may have new barriers to URM participation
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Inform Critical Decisions Students are making college and career choices that can affect their entire earning future and ability to create wealth
−Earning future depends largely on the major one chooses, successful completion of the degree, and institution from which they graduated
−Wealth creation depends largely on earning potential and debt burden upon degree completion
Click to edit Master title styleUndergraduate Major Field of
Study Emp. StatusEmployed in CLM Occs.
Employed in non-CLM Occs.
Absolute Difference
Relative Difference
Engineering All empl. $88,488 $50,791 $37,697 74%FTYR $93,654 $58,537 $35,117 60%
Business/Management All empl. $81,391 $43,633 $37,759 87%FTYR $87,003 $51,300 $35,703 70%
Math & Computer Sci. All empl. $79,433 $44,391 $35,042 79%FTYR $84,660 $53,685 $30,975 58%
Health-Related All empl. $61,589 $35,115 $26,474 75%FTYR $69,950 $45,019 $24,931 55%
Social Sciences All empl. $66,649 $38,089 $28,560 75%FTYR $74,327 $47,004 $27,323 58%
Communication All empl. $63,802 $36,630 $27,172 74%FTYR $71,246 $46,333 $24,912 54%
Humanities/Liberal Arts All empl. $57,027 $33,265 $23,763 71%FTYR $66,586 $42,616 $23,970 56%
Area Studies All empl. $53,051 $33,014 $20,036 61%FTYR $60,037 $42,304 $17,733 42%
Science All empl. $64,386 $41,141 $23,245 56%FTYR $72,119 $50,460 $21,659 43%
Legal All empl. $59,699 $38,167 $21,532 56%FTYR $62,884 $44,157 $18,727 42%
Education/Teaching All empl. $43,820 $30,555 $13,265 43%FTYR $49,713 $40,268 $9,445 23%
2009 Mean Annual Earnings of Employed and Full-time Year-round Employed College Graduates with a Bachelor’s Degree Only, by Undergraduate Major Field of Study
and Mal-Employment Status, US
Center for Labor Market and Policy -Drexel University
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Evaluate Earning Future: Choice of Major Matters
Mal-employment Rates of College Graduates with a Bachelor’s Degree Only, Employed in Full-time and Year-round Jobs,
by Major Field of Study, US, 2009
Total
Health-related
Math & computer science
Engineering
Education & training
Science
Engineering technologies
Business/management
Communication
Social Sciences
Humanities/liberal arts
27.2%
15.9%
17.8%
17.9%
22.6%
28.9%
29.4%
29.6%
29.9%
32.4%
33.7%
Center for Labor Market and Policy
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Implications
• Mal employment among science degree students higher than we would like, certainly for the work effort
• Entry salaries raise questions regarding value
• Advanced degrees almost a necessity
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College ChoiceOptimize Chance of Success
Desire that our students attend highly selective institutions
−Students’ high school academic profile linked to institutional selectivity
−Persistence is highest among “select” and “highly select” public- and private- doctoral degree granting institutions
−Resources to connect to faculty research, academic and professional networks
−Top corporate, industry and graduate recruitment activity at selective institutions
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School Choice Matters: First to Second Year Persistence Rates
2006 to 2007 2007 to 2008 2008 to 2009 2009 to 2010
All PhD-Granting Private Institutions*
81.8% 80.4% 80.6% 80.3%
Highly Selective, PhD-Granting Private*
93.9% 91.4% 93.4% 93.5%
Selective PhD-Granting Private*
83.5% 83.7% 84.3% 83.1%
Traditional PhD-Granting Private*
72.7% 73.1% 72.8% 72.1%
*National Comparison data taken from ACT website (http://www.act.org/research/policymakers). Data taken from 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 reports (published as of June 15). Data based on ACT databases, and as such, 1) does NOT contain all US private institutions, and 2) may possibly disproportionately represent institutions with a high percentage of ACT test-takers.- Abridged Selectivity Definitions:
Selectivity Level Middle 50% SAT High School
Highly Selective 1710-2000 Majority admitted from top 10% of H.S. class
Selective 1470-1770 Majority admitted from top 25% of H.S. class
Traditional 1290-1650 Majority admitted from top 50% of H.S. class- Graduation data based on 5-year graduation rates.** Drexel University data as reported in the Key Institutional Metrics. Graduation data reported based on 6-year graduation rates.
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Benchmarking
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Admitted for Success: So Why Do Students Leave
If students are admitted in very competitive GPA and TSAT thresholds why do they leave?
−Transition −Academic identity formation −Integration of social and academic
networks −Character −Financial stress (recent findings)
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Value Proposition
In today’s market, attending college is a value proposition requiring sophisticated analysis of one’s earning future against
−Net cost −Affordability and −Financing capability−Opportunity cost
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Published Tuition and Fees, Net Tuition and Fees,
and Room and Board Full-Time Undergraduate Students, 1995-96, 2000-01, 2005-06 and 2010-11
Financial aid values for 2010-11 are estimated based on earlier years
Source: The College Board, Trends in College Pricing 2010, Figure 7
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Simple Math
An Engineering student making $93,654 attending a select private, 4 – year institution can anticipate a debt of $127,400 over 4.9 years
• Now replace that with an Education student making $49,713 attending a select private, 4– year institution
Among our lowest income students: 51% are enrolled colleges and universities that place them at risk of completion
• 18% in the two year system• 21% in high cost four year; 11% in for profit
schools)
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Optimization
We are asking the lowest income sector to perform dispassionate, sophisticated optimization to inform their college going decisions when• Attending college is a largely
emotional decision founded on an assumption of financial aid that is outdated, and an often inadequate assessment of value
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Antoinette TorresAssociate Vice ProvostSeptember 27, 2011
Thank You