IRP News

The Office of Institutional Research & Planning (IRP) attended SAIR 2023 from October 14-17, 2023, in Point Clear, Alabama. This was the 50th conference of the Southern Association for Institutional Research (SAIR), and several IRP staff gave presentations:

The Office of Institutional Research & Planning (IRP) was in attendance at interactUSG 2023, a University System of Georgia conference for business and technology professionals from the 26 USG institutions and affiliated industry partners. This year's conference was hosted at the Savannah Convention Center in Savannah, Georgia, September 13-15, 2023. Three members of IRP's staff gave presentations:

Numerous studies have correlated educational attainment with wealth attainment. Earning at least a bachelor's degree is associated with better economic outcomes, including higher wages and lower rates of unemployment. However, a study by Pew Research Center revealed an economic disparity between first generation college graduates versus those who had at least one college-educated parent.

Employers have long cited an inadequately skilled workforce as the primary reason jobs go unfilled. However, there is considerable debate over whether a mismatch truly exists between workers' skills and employers' needs. A report from the Congressional Research Service, Skills Gaps: A Review of Underlying Concepts and Evidence, notes the possibility of other contributing factors such as:

The National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) released a semi-annual report analyzing the fiscal condition of the states, including summary tables of general fund revenues, expenditures, and balances. This spring edition provides an overview of governors' budget proposals. Among the key takeaways for Fiscal 2022:

MDRC published a policy brief titled Under Audit: Equity Audits in State Higher Education Finance in June 2022. This brief discusses the potential use of equity audits to identify and address inequities in the distribution of state funds to public institutions of higher learning. Community colleges and other broad access public institutions disproportionately enroll students from underserved populations and rely more heavily on state funds.

For six years New America has been collecting data on Americans’ views about higher education for its Varying Degrees survey. Surprisingly, despite significant social, cultural, political, and economic changes, there was remarkably little change in views on the value and opportunities provided by higher education. One area that did change was the perception of online education.

According to InsideHigherEd.com, a report released by Moody's, Converging Forces Will Squeeze Budgets for Many Colleges and Universities, projects institutional expenses will skyrocket in the 2022-2023 academic year due to wage inflation, labor shortages, and a nationwide hiring push.

Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce published a report on Ranking 4,500 Colleges by ROI (2022) using data from the College Scorecard. The rankings include a metric that compares earnings ten years after enrollment with those of workers with a high school diploma as their highest credential.

In response to the results of a review of student mental health, Cornell University decided to reduce the maximum number of credits engineering students can take per semester from 23 to 20.