Students appreciated full honesty and disclosure. This has not affected our school.
Our institution understands that the required disclosures drive certain market behaviors, and it regularly adjusts its program offerings to be in concert with those market choices and behaviors.
This is becoming a big question especially with the economic challenges and I think affects peoples decisions greatly where to attend.
Steven ,
Local economic conditions can effect placement rates. Typically students will be looking at schools in the same general area so they may able to make valid comparisons.
John Ware
I completely agree with and understand the principle decision behind releasing graduation/placement rates. With that being said however, how does this information relate to different regions within a singular state? Take for example a Northeastern suburb of Cleveland in comparison to a southern border city like Cincinnati. These two places can have dractically different economic climates and job markets. Do the placement rates take this variance into account in any way?
I find that more of the people I am working with are returning to school because they are tired of looking for work. So they are not as interested in the pay scale as much as the opportunity for a position in a specific field of study.
This is always a concern of potential students and our school has a very active
Career Services Dept. that is always a part of our intial discssions
the students will have an idea of where they will stand at after they complete the program
I can say that students basically like the job markets that will have better chances to get a job. We here at our institution make sure that this is disclose.
I find that when students are presented with this information, they are discouraged by the average entry level salary. I truly don't think they have realistic expectations as to what people make right out of college.
Providing this information to prospective students has a positive effect because it provides a sense of trust in our partnership.
Depending on what programs the student is interested, the program graduation and placement rates may have an impact on which program they choose. I haven't experienced this with any of my students, but I've seen this happen to other ADAs.
There hasn't been any modifications by this institution because our results are not affected in a negative way.
In Admissions, we have seen a couple dramatic shifts as a result of prospective students' increased awareness of graduation and placement rates.
In one medical program area, we have previously offered both a diploma and degree program in the same area of training. In this specific area, we have much higher placement and graduation rates in the degree version of this training. As a result, almost all new, and also current, students chose to enroll into the degree version even though it was a greater time and monetary commitment, because they could see a direct correlation between obtaining a degree and more favorable student outcomes. As a result of student outcomes and interest, we have discontinued offering the diploma version of this program.
Conversely, we offer both a diploma and degree version of a more trade oriented program. However, graduation and placement rates between the two are generally both very similar. I often have prospective students that decide to opt for the diploma version of this program because they see that they can achieve the same results with less time spent in training and less financial investment as well.
I have seen student gravitate to programs that have a higher placement rates,our school has made some adjustments to certain programs to accomodate the market trend in employment.
I have seen quite the opposite, I have had many students decide to go a different direction based more on placement than the mean average salary as provided by career services.
I have yet to experience a student switching their interest based solely on the institutions placement rates. With the healthcare industry rising in our market, I’ve noticed an increase in inquires in the medical field.
It seems as though many career schools these days tend to only offer programs that are in "relative" high demand. School's also tend to not offer programs they once did because that industry or career might not be as desired by employers, or the market might have shifted away from those careers. The school I work at tries to keep programs that remain in high demand in the work/labor force. Sometimes the schools can see a trend, if enrollment starts to get lower in certain programs, also the school needs to stay informed as to what is going on in the economy and labor force to better serve the students with relative career programs.
I am a high school rep and as such work off site most of the time. I do not have any directly knowlege about how the disclosure of grad rates have effected students behaviior.
I have not see a change in one program over another. Our students usually select the option that they have a passion for.
In the geographical area that I work in, schools use their graduation rates and placement rates as a marketing tool since we have so many competitors for the same programs. Schools with high rates in our area tend to have more applicants and interest from prospects. These rates seem to be important for nursing programs.
This is one of the best practices for a school. When you publish your outcomes and rates it gives students an overall view on how good/concern that school is about their students. I have couple of students that have changed their mind when they see the percentage employed in a particular field more than the one they originally thought of it.
