\n
Comment on this story<\/title><path d=\"M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p>Comment<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"teaser-content grid-center\">\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">When Troy Grant was looking at colleges as a prospective student, he had little idea about how much they would actually cost, whether certain degrees would lead to good jobs and other basic information that would help young people make one of the most expensive decisions of their lives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The first in his immediate family to go to college, Grant struggled to understand terms like \u201ccredit hour\u201d and to compare institutions on such things as their graduation rates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">\u201cWe had the will, but we had no idea what we were doing,\u201d he said of himself and his family. \u201cWe were navigating a process that was foreign to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Years later, Grant \u2013 who eventually attended a small college in Nashville and is now the senior director of college access and success at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission \u2013 says that more data is available, but most students still aren\u2019t getting all the information they need to make informed choices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Now Tennessee is one of several states trying to change that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">With federal data on college costs and outcomes restricted in some crucial ways, and with colleges and universities themselves often making it hard to find answers, several states have quietly passed or <a href=\"https:\/\/assembly.state.ny.us\/leg\/?default_fld=&bn=A03308&term=2021&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Text=Y&Committee%26nbspVotes=Y&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">proposed<\/a> laws requiring that certain information be made available to consumers about what they\u2019ll get for their investment in a higher education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Legislators in at least seven states considered bills this past year that would require agencies to collect and publicize data about graduates\u2019 monthly loan payments, how many are working in jobs that require a degree and other consumer-friendly information about colleges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Eight states now legally require the collection and distribution of some college information, according to the Data Quality Campaign, a nonprofit education data advocacy organization: Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The push comes at a time when Americans are increasingly skeptical about the cost of higher education. In a country where only <a href=\"https:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/fastfacts\/display.asp?id=40\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">64 percent<\/a> of students graduate from college within six years, experts say more transparency can help Americans make better choices about where to attend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p><span class=\"font--article-body font-copy hide-for-print ma-0 pb-md db italic interstitial\"><a data-qa=\"interstitial-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2022\/12\/07\/financial-aid-gao-report\/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_16\">Financial aid letters don\u2019t reveal the real cost of college<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The Tennessee Higher Education Commission, for example, operates <a href=\"https:\/\/www.collegefortn.org\/college-finder\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a website<\/a> on which prospective students can browse data about colleges, such as average annual cost by family income and most popular majors, as well as information about state financial aid grants and in-demand careers. \u201cWe want to give them the content they need in order to make an informed decision about their destination,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">States have good reason to want to hold colleges and universities accountable. State and local governments <a href=\"https:\/\/shef.sheeo.org\/report\/#report-highlights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spent $113 billion<\/a> subsidizing public universities and colleges and providing financial aid in the last fiscal year, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. Meanwhile, thousands of students are choosing and attending colleges without any idea of the return they can expect on their investment, or even their likelihood of graduating.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">\u201cIt\u2019s hard to overstate the importance of transparency about cost and outcomes,\u201d said Beth Akers, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. As it is, she said, people who are paying or borrowing to go to college don\u2019t always understand how much they may eventually end up spending.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">\u201cAt the same time, they have very little understanding of where their path in college is likely to lead them,\u201d Akers said. \u201cIt seems that people have blind faith in the system of higher education to deliver them toward a good outcome, but it doesn\u2019t work out that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Overall, the return on an investment in a higher education is strong, as people with bachelor\u2019s degrees make on average <a href=\"https:\/\/cew.georgetown.edu\/cew-reports\/the-college-payoff\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">84 percent more<\/a> over their lifetimes than people with only high school diplomas, according to the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. But individual outcomes can vary widely, and some programs and colleges don\u2019t leave students better off. Knowing which programs and institutions to avoid can be key for prospective students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The federal government and private organizations do provide some information, but that data isn\u2019t always useful or accurate enough for students. The government and other sources, such as U.S. News & World Report, collect information directly from colleges and universities, some of which has been found to be incorrect or questionable. Columbia University is the most recent of many institutions shown over the years to have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/education\/2022\/09\/09\/columbia-usnews-college-ranking\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_27\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">provided inaccurate information<\/a> to U.S. News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The federal government began putting graduation rates, average debt and other measures for students on the <a href=\"https:\/\/collegescorecard.ed.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">College Scorecard<\/a> website in 2015. Since then, the Department of Education has used the site to release even more granular data, like the earnings and debt associated with specific programs and majors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p><span class=\"font--article-body font-copy hide-for-print ma-0 pb-md db italic interstitial\"><a data-qa=\"interstitial-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/education\/2021\/11\/01\/college-degree-value-major\/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_29\">Will that college degree pay off? A look at some of the numbers.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">However, the Department of Education is limited in what it can collect and release. In 2008, Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/education-policy\/topics\/higher-education-data-and-transparency\/higher-education-data\/student-unit-record-data-system\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">banned the federal government<\/a> from connecting individual students\u2019 data across federal agencies. The result is that the department can release earnings and debt data only from student loan borrowers. It can\u2019t, say, release information about which colleges have the best outcomes for low-income students of color, even though that data could be created by partnering with tax agencies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/117th-congress\/senate-bill\/839\/text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">College Transparency Act<\/a>, proposed in Congress last year, would have lifted the ban on that type of information; it passed the House, but has since stalled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Other data the federal government reports can be misleading, such as graduation rates, which consumers may assume measure how many students graduate in four years, when the federal government\u2019s College Scorecard counts successful graduation as <a href=\"https:\/\/hechingerreport.org\/how-the-college-lobby-got-the-government-to-measure-graduation-rates-over-six-years-instead-of-four\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the proportion who finish in eight<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">As for information universities and colleges provide directly to consumers, much of it is out of date or wrong, with no one verifying it, researchers have found. Offers of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2022\/12\/07\/financial-aid-gao-report\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_35\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">financial aid<\/a>, for example, are almost impossible to compare from one institution to another and often <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/education-policy\/policy-papers\/decoding-cost-college\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">don\u2019t use the word \u201cloan\u201d<\/a> when referring to families\u2019 borrowing of funds. Job placement rates for graduates are often based on email surveys of alumni, many of whom do not respond.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">There are some indications that states might be able to do a better job than the federal government at data collection and distribution. States aren\u2019t subject to existing federal bans on data linking and can give students more specific regional information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Some states, including Tennessee, still use federal data on their public websites. But a state agency can add more specific local information, such as which colleges students can use state financial aid to pay for and which they can\u2019t.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Other states, like <a href=\"https:\/\/kystats.ky.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kentucky<\/a>, have created their own data systems that can track residents from kindergarten into the workforce and link data from state agencies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Colorado <a href=\"https:\/\/leg.colorado.gov\/bills\/hb22-1349\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">passed a law<\/a> in the spring of 2022 creating a postsecondary student success data system, requiring that the state post information about institutions and postsecondary and workforce success, such as how many students continue from one year to the next and how long it takes graduates to pay off their debts. The law also requires that the state post data specifically about graduation rates for nontraditional students, meaning those who attend part-time or have returned after dropping out, who aren\u2019t included in some measures of graduation rates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p><span class=\"font--article-body font-copy hide-for-print ma-0 pb-md db italic interstitial\"><a data-qa=\"interstitial-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/education\/2022\/12\/02\/colleges-cut-costs-tuition\/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_43\">As enrollment falls and skepticism grows, some colleges are cutting prices<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">\u201cWe know that families want a good return on their investment when their child enters a postsecondary program,\u201d said Rep. Monica Duran, a Democrat in Colorado\u2019s legislature who co-sponsored the bill. \u201cThis bill will help them achieve that through the transparency and the objective of the data that we\u2019re gathering.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The Colorado effort, which had bipartisan support, will be paid for from federal American Rescue Plan Act money allocated to the state. Other states have used Department of Education grants to build their data systems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">But as states are gearing up to provide more and more information, the real question will be whether students choose to use it. There\u2019s some evidence to show they might not.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The University of Texas System pioneered a collaboration with the Census Bureau in 2018 to provide students with more information about the earnings they could expect after completing different programs. But two years after that initiative began, <a href=\"https:\/\/hechingerreport.org\/more-info-is-available-about-which-majors-pay-off-but-students-arent-using-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">students did not appear to be changing their courses of study,<\/a> university officials said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The state of Virginia similarly provides students with a <a href=\"https:\/\/research.schev.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hefty amount of data<\/a> about colleges, including information on debt, financial aid, transfer outcomes and wages for specific programs. A student interested in history can easily find out that students who major in history at the University of Virginia make on average about $73,000 annually five years after they\u2019ve graduated, while students in the comparable program at the College of William & Mary make about $58,000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p><span class=\"font--article-body font-copy hide-for-print ma-0 pb-md db italic interstitial\"><a data-qa=\"interstitial-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2022\/09\/02\/college-major-regrets\/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_52\">The most-regretted (and lowest-paying) college majors<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">However, Tod Massa, policy analytics director at the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, said he isn\u2019t sure that students are using this information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">\u201cI think some fraction of students use the data,\u201d Massa said. But \u201chow many high school students are actually going to think to go to a state agency website to research colleges and universities?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Part of the issue, Massa said, may be that students can have trouble navigating data if they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re looking for. There are 600 program combinations at public colleges in Virginia alone, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Virginia passed a <a href=\"https:\/\/lis.virginia.gov\/cgi-bin\/legp604.exe?221+sum+HB1299\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new law<\/a> in the spring that makes the state\u2019s Department of Education and school boards responsible for distributing information about colleges to public high school students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">\u201cThey have direct access to high school students,\u201d Massa said. \u201cWe do not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Other states have looked into putting the information directly in the hands of students by printing and distributing it. Experts say that students can\u2019t be expected to find and operate byzantine government websites on their own, which is why states need to make data usable and attractive, and get trusted advisers to help students make sense of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger, president and CEO of the Data Quality Campaign, said more states are now including provisions in their laws to require that the data be shared with high school career counselors who can bring it to students and help them understand the information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">\u201cThis data is not accessible, and that\u2019s the key particularly about state outcomes,\u201d Bell-Ellwanger said. \u201cIt\u2019s not enough just to have it collected, but it has to be shared.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">There\u2019s some evidence that providing more data about tuition, debt and financial aid might help students consider some colleges they wouldn\u2019t have considered before. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salliemae.com\/content\/dam\/slm\/writtencontent\/Research\/HowAmericaPaysforCollege2022.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eighty percent<\/a> of students surveyed dismissed colleges as potential places to attend based on sticker price, a study by Sallie Mae found, even though most students don\u2019t pay the full sticker price.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Some experts say that while more data is always good, disclosures won\u2019t change everything.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The federal government could do more to elevate good programs and demand accountability from bad ones, said Wesley Whistle, a former policy director at the higher education program at the liberal think tank New America who recently left to work at the Department of Education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Also, most students choose to go to college close to home, often because of financial constraints or family obligations, Whistle said. Those students can look at data all day, but often will have few real options.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">\u201cInformation only does so much,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a need to use that data to implement policy change to help students.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">But as long as a significant number of students are finding they can\u2019t get a job that pays off their loans or can\u2019t graduate in four years, data will continue to be important, said Stacie Gordon, executive director of the Partners for College Affordability and Public Trust.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">\u201cIt\u2019s important. It\u2019s essential. And that\u2019s probably one of the most pressing issues in higher ed right now,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cData is king.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\"><i>This story about college consumer data was produced by <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/hechingerreport.org\/special-reports\/higher-education\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hechinger Report<\/a><i>, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for our <\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/c36ixT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>higher education newsletter<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"dn-ns hide-for-print\" data-testid=\"mostRead\" subscriptions-section=\"content\"\/><\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/__i\/rss\/rd\/articles\/CBMiU2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9lZHVjYXRpb24vMjAyMy8wMS8yMS9jb2xsZWdlLWRhdGEtc3RhdGUtbGVnaXNsYXRpb24v0gEA?oc=5\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Comment on this story Comment When Troy Grant was looking at colleges as a prospective student, he had little idea about how much they would actually cost, whether certain degrees would lead to good jobs and other basic information that would help young people make one of the most expensive decisions of their lives. The …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[161],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45016"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}