U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATION, IN COLLABORATION WITH AMERICAN INSTITUTES FOR RESEARCH AND GALLUP
Transforming Higher Education: Achieving Better Return on Investment and Employee Engagement
USA Funds congratulates Colorado, Tennessee and Texas for offering their citizens robust new college planning resources: Launch My Career Colorado , Launch My Career Tennessee and Launch My Career Texas. These interactive websites are components of USA Funds’ $3.5 million, multi-state initiative to develop new models for measuring college value.
Launch My Career aims to bridge the gap for higher education institutions, employers, and students by exploring the relationships between postsecondary experiences—such as internships and relationships with mentors—and key performance indicators vital to graduates and businesses. Such indicators include employment, productivity, well-being, and employee engagement among college graduates. The partners aim to close the gaps in communication, skills, and accountability between the U.S. higher education system and the country’s employers through a focus on the outcomes that matter to everyone.
The tool will launch in four states: Colorado, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas and will present rigorous, state-level return on investment data. Launch My Career will also feature a “College Planner” data function that will provide prospective students with detailed information for college and career mapping.
TENNESSEE
Derek Redelman of USA Funds says that Launch My Career TN helps students sort through the overwhelming number of majors available in order to avoid finding themselves “’unemployed or underemployed’” after graduation. Read the full article here.
Derek Redelman of USA Funds says, “To pursue a more purposeful path through college to rewarding careers, college-bound students and adult learners need better information about the outcomes they can expect from postsecondary programs.” Launch My Career TN allows prospective students to map a path through college and career. Read the full article here.
Mark Field, Senior Vice President of the Knoxville Chamber, explains the Launch My Career Tennessee tool on WBIR. Watch clip here.
USA Funds’ Carol D’Amico and the TN Chamber of Commerce’s Bradley Jackson describe how the comprehensive data offered through Launch My Career TN helps students to determine financially successful and personally meaningful career paths. The tool also benefits the TN business community as it strives to close the skills gap. Read the full article here.
Sydney Neely’s article, “Matchmaker site links in-demand jobs, college programs,” highlights Launch My Career Tennessee, funded by USA Funds as part of the $3.5 million College Value grant project.
In opinion piece, “Linking in-demand jobs, college programs,” Bradley Jackson, interim president of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry, praises Launch My Career Tennessee for informing students about potential career pathways that will maximize their returns on investment, create well-rounded and satisfying lives after graduation and benefit the Tennessee workforce. Jackson remarks, “for the business community, this could not be more important.”
According to Miles Burdine, Gary Mabrey and Beth Rhinehart, leaders of local Tennessee Chambers of Commerce, in the Tennessee Tri-City area, the business community is eager to address the existing skills gap and is grateful for the implementation of Launch My Career Tennessee, a tool that allows students and families to prepare for the investment in postsecondary education and plan for a meaningful career path that will benefit both the student and the community.
Using the Gallup-Purdue Index, Bridging the Gap Between Higher Education and the Workplace: A Profile of Tennessee College Graduates focuses on three key measures of life among Tennessee graduates — work, well-being and the evaluation of their college experience — to illustrate the link between undergraduate experiences and success in the workforce and in life after college.
COLORADO
Governor Hickenlooper (CO) highlights Launch My Career Colorado as one of the resources helping to close the skills gap and strengthen the pipeline between postsecondary education and the workforce in Colorado. Read the full article here.
A Colorado high school senior credits Launch My Career Colorado for helping her to make a more informed choice about her college major. This tool is “part of a new generation of free college planning tools” that will help students maximize their college value. Read full article here.
Author Jon Marcus mentions Launch My Career Colorado as an important source of information in an age where understanding the price of college and the projected return on investment is imperative to making informed decisions about higher education. Read the full article here.
AEI praises “Launch My Career Colorado” for providing prospective students extensive information for calculating return on investment and planning for a stable financial future.
Denver Post editorial, “A reality check on the value of your college degree,” highlights the benefits of the USA Funds-supported web tool Launch My Career Colorado, calling the website “a valuable contribution to transparency in higher education.”
Carol D’Amico, USA Funds Executive Vice President, highlights Launch My Career Colorado as the “21st Century Way to Select a College Program.”
Inside HigherEd reports on a new interactive website, supported by USA Funds, that allows students to pick college programs based on their potential returns.
Colorado Springs Gazette credits USA Funds for new Colorado website that lets students pick colleges based on potential ROI.
TEXAS
Bill Hammond, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Business, says, “Launch My Career TX is essential to college planning. It is uniquely positioned to help Texas’ students determine what path is right for them based on their personal goals and career aspirations. When students succeed, it means a better-prepared and more-qualified workforce for Texas in the future.” Read full press release here.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Texas Association of Business, USA Funds and College Measures have officially introduced Launch My Career Texas.
Watch the highlights of the Launch My Career Texas conference here!
MINNESOTA
Coming soon!