COLLEGE PRODUCTIVITY

States face the challenge of working harder—and faster—to educate enough college graduates for the country to sustain the vitality of its local communities and the economy. To meet workforce demands alone, research shows the United States will need 1 million more graduates a year than it’s on track to turn out during the next 16 years.

Without a major overhaul, the nation's higher-education system is simply too costly to meet this challenge. Meanwhile, global competition is roiling the U.S. economy. Failing to meet the need for a better-educated workforce will have dire consequences for citizens' ability to earn living wages.

A generation ago, the United States had the best-educated population in the world. Today, the country ranks 10th among industrialized countries in the percentage of its citizens aged 25 to 34 with college degrees. The good news is educating a greater share of the U.S. population does not have to cost a lot more. The country already spends at least twice as much as the average industrialized nation per student. Better investment, with a focus on productivity, should generate better results.

Achieving big gains will require policymakers and leaders of public two- and four-year colleges and universities to embrace a new agenda. Among the objectives:

Graduate more students. We need to redesign state finance systems to reward institutions for graduating more students, not just enrolling them. Many students show up for postsecondary education poorly prepared and need extra assistance to succeed. Serving these students is likely to require new funding approaches and educational models. Institutions also should be rewarded for measuring—and increasing—both the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of academic programs and administrative operations.
Improve capacity. Colleges and universities must find ways to strengthen institutional and system capacity to serve more students and more diverse populations. They must align resources, programs and services to better serve all students, including those who will enter the workforce in much larger numbers: minorities, students from low-income families, first-generation college-goers and working adults.
Culture of evidence. Higher education institutions must create a culture of evidence to improve student success. Using data and benchmarking can help institutions improve graduation rates and student-learning outcomes.