outcomes

Money Credits K for Quality, Affordability, Outcomes

Posted on
Student entering Trowbridge Hall for Money magazine story
Money ranks Kalamazoo College 19th among the country’s liberal arts and sciences colleges and 50th overall in the Midwest.

Kalamazoo College is gaining global repute among some of the top institutions in higher education with Money magazine’s recent lists of the best colleges of 2022.

Money ranks K 19th among the country’s liberal arts and sciences colleges and 50th in the Midwest regardless of public or private status. K is the only liberal arts and sciences institution in Michigan to reach either of the top 50 lists.

Money’s methodology focused on graduation rates to score more than 600 colleges in quality, affordability and outcomes with those data points aggregating the net price of a degree, loan-repayment rates, median earnings and some value-added calculations that measure a school’s actual performance against its predicted performance.

The end result, its editor says, is an analysis students and families can rely on to make their best personal choice while ensuring value and positive employment outcomes.

“This year’s Best Colleges list is a new take on our long-standing commitment to helping families make a smart college choice,” Money Executive Editor Mike Ayers said. “We changed things up so more students could use this list to make educated choices about investing in their future.”

The K-Plan, K’s approach to a high-quality education in the liberal arts and sciences, offers well-rounded academics, international and intercultural experiences such as study abroad, a hands-on education through civic engagement and service learning, and independent scholarship, resulting in that excellent value and opportunities for graduates to accomplish more throughout their lives.

“These recognitions are a great honor for K because they prove students can rely on us to provide an excellent education and a terrific value for their investment regardless of the program they choose,” Dean of Admission Suzanne Lepley said. “Their success as students positions them as graduates for great outcomes throughout their careers and beyond.”

K Grads Secure Next Steps

Posted on

A new meta-analysis shows that the Kalamazoo College liberal arts learning experience develops students who are better able than most of their peers to secure the post-graduation outcomes they seek.

Last week at its national conference, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) released the first-ever national compilation of first-destination surveys. Across categories such as instructional profile, public vs. private, location type, region, and enrollment numbers, Kalamazoo College graduates did comparatively well securing their next steps.

NACE defines a first destination “Career Outcome” as employment, continuing education, or working in a volunteer or service program. The national average of Career Outcomes among liberal arts undergraduate institutions was 85.1 percent of the total class. Comparatively, 87 percent of Kalamazoo College’s Class of 2014 met Career Outcomes. K’s first-destination survey is administered by the College’s Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD).

And fewer members of Kalamazoo College’s class of 2014 were still seeking employment six months after graduating. K’s rate of 6.6 percent of such students was lower than both the national rates of 7.7 percent for private institutions and 9.7 percent for liberal arts institutions.

By December 2014, 91 percent of K’s 2014 graduates who sought employment had secured jobs (up from 85 percent in 2013). Twenty-three percent were already in graduate school (up from 19 percent in 2013).

Check out the Kalamazoo College Class of 2014 First Destination Survey Results (http://bit.ly/K2014FDSSummary). And feel free to review specific first destination information by major (http://bit.ly/KFDSByMajor) from class years 2010-2014.

The College is currently conducting the First Destination Survey for the Class of 2015 and will publish results in January 2016. CCPD is open year-round and its free services for alumni never expire.

Text by Rachel Wood, Kalamazoo College Center for Career and Professional Development

The Right Place for the Liberal Arts

Posted on

A liberal arts education is an education for life–in all its various aspects. In fact, because life is so multifaceted, it’s hard to imagine an educational model more effective than the liberal arts. It’s this fact that makes various myths about a liberal arts education–such as the notion that it’s impractical–so pernicious. S. Georgia Nugent, senior fellow at the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and former president of Kenyon College, writes a column on the value of the liberal arts education. An autumn post of hers debunks many of the pernicious myths, including elitism, prohibitive expense, debt, impracticality, and weaker employment prospects. In a more recent post about college graduates in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math), Nugent notes that America’s small, private, liberal arts colleges are more successful than large research universities graduating science majors and preparing students for doctorates in STEM fields. The results of a recent CIC report she cites suggests that liberal arts colleges provide more bang for the buck when it comes to producing STEM graduates. The Council of Independent Colleges represents more than 600 small private colleges around the country, including Kalamazoo College.

K Quality Assessment Noted by National Organization

Posted on

The National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment has a mission to make learning outcomes usable and transparent. Toward that end, it created and made available to colleges and universities the NILOA Transparency Framework. NILOA’s website featured several early and effective adopters, including Kalamazoo College.

Says Provost Mickey McDonald: “The College incorporated (with permission) some of the frameworks from NILOA and used some of the educational quality assurance framework outlined by Peter Ewell in his book Making the Grade.” Influence of the NILOA framework is evident on K’s Educational Quality Assessment website. And a portion of that website, “Elements of Educational Quality,” borrows from Ewell’s framework; student learning outcomes is central, but not the only point of focus for quality assurance at K.

McDonald adds, “We started work about three years ago with the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board about better understanding their role in Educational Quality Assessment. We have touched on this at nearly every board meeting since, and we wrap up each year with an executive summary of EQA work done that year.”