College is a major investment for young adults and their families, and with the rising cost of higher education, the decision becomes ever more critical in planning one’s future.
Graduating with $125,000 in student debt limits job options, according to Florida’s Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. The legislator is cosponsoring a bipartisan education bill with Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden that seeks further transparency in measuring the successes of college and university programs.
“When it comes to higher learning, too many students and families are in the dark,” Sen. Wyden said in a press release. “The cost of a four-year degree can now run north of $100,000 and students deserve to know before they matriculate what they can expect from their huge investment in money and time. The data exists.”
The aim of the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act is to collect return-on-investment data on college programs and make that data available in an informative way. One example is to provide the employment status of students after graduating college based on choice of major.
Other data would provide credit accumulation, rates of remedial enrollment, average cost of a program before and after financial aid, and total accumulated debt. Data would be collected and disseminated at the state level.
