While college rankings can provide helpful information about colleges and universities, they have several faults, including limited criteria, subjectivity, lack of transparency, a one-size-fits-all approach, and a negative impact on colleges and universities. Additionally, most available rankings do not consider the future job market.
This report, and the associated interactive dashboard, is not meant as a ranking or a sole decision maker in the college selection process, but as supplemental information to understand how colleges may be structured. Specifically, this aims to identify which colleges and institutions are designed to prepare students for the future based on occupations that have been identified as high demand for future growth.
While the merit and relevance to an institution's quality of each of the typical ranking factors (outcomes, reputation, resources, selectivity, experience, etc.)1 are debated, one topic has consistently dominated higher education...what is the return on investment? While the list provided here does not measure ROI, it is meant to evaluate which institutions are providing the most pathways to in-demand jobs.
Methodology
In order to identify which institutions were in the best position for success, data was pulled from multiple external sources. A list of Bright Outlook Occupations was identified by O*NET OnLine. O*NET OnLine is a website maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor that provides comprehensive information on various occupations. Bright Outlook Occupations are defined as those that meet the following criteria:
Projected to have a much faster than average growth rate (employment increase of 8% or more) over the next 10 years (2021–2031) within the United States.
Have 100,000 or more job openings over the next ten years (2021–2031).
Are listed as a New & Emerging occupation. These are occupations that have not existed and were identified as being significantly different from existing occupations.
O*NET pulls its Job growth and job openings source from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The extracted data includes each occupation’s corresponding Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code and associated Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes. The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) is the system used by the United States government to classify and categorize occupations. The system is periodically reviewed and updated to reflect changes in the economy and workforce, and the most recent revision was published in 2018.
The Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) is a taxonomy developed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the United States to provide a standardized way of categorizing academic disciplines and programs offered by postsecondary institutions. The CIP system is periodically reviewed and updated to reflect changes in academic programs and disciplines. The most recent revision was published in 2020. The CIP system is used for a variety of purposes, including tracking enrollment trends, identifying workforce needs, and conducting research on postsecondary education.
This occupation data was then connected to the number of bachelor degrees awarded in 2021 and the college’s net price through data available from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The NCES is the “primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.”
O*NET OnLine groups occupations based on the education, experience and the amount of on-the-job training needed to perform the work. There are five job zone levels, with occupations in Job Zone 1 requiring no preparation and possibly requiring a high school diploma or GED certificate and occupations in Job Zone 5 requiring extensive preparation and education, with most requiring an advanced degree. Only occupations identified as level 4 (requiring a four-year bachelor’s degree, but some do not) and only institutions that awarded bachelor degrees were included in the analysis. As a result, this analysis reviewed the top 100 Bright Outlook Occupations as offered by 2,386 US institutions.
Findings
Approximately 85% of the analyzed institutions had at least one Bright Outlook Occupation. On average, institutions offered programs that fit 45 of the top 100 occupations. Ohio University was associated with the most Bright Outlook Occupations, awarding at least one bachelor's degree in 2021 to 89 of the 100 bright occupations. These 89 occupations are represented by multiple CIP codes - Ohio University awarded bachelors degrees in a 133 different CIP codes. According to their website, they have nine undergraduate colleges and over 250 programs. Three Universities in Michigan (Western, Eastern, and Central) and Florida State followed close behind with 88 degrees in 2021. Among the top 15 institutions (listed in the table below) all are classified as public four-year, large institutions. The average net price of these institutions range from $11,419 to $24,012.
There were over 300 institutions that were associated with fewer than 10 Bright Outlook Occupations. This population included a mix of both public and private institutions, and the net price ranged from as low as $2,803 to a high of $53,916. Several of these institutions were niche schools that focused on a specific area of education like the arts, music, cooking,
religious studies, and health care/nursing. Single areas of focus can still be an avenue of success for institutions, as evidenced in the range in net price among these intuitions. Identifying a single success point can be a means to dig out a particular place in the market, although this does run the risk of a loss of interest in a given area or an increased desire for a diversified list of program options.
Occupations
Among the 100 Bright Outlook Occupations, all except Short-Term Substitute Teacher were associated with at least one bachelor degree awarding institution. Below are the 10 occupations associated with the greatest and least number of schools shown by the number of schools that awarded degrees in each particular area.
Loss Prevention Managers are associated with the highest number of institutions, with 1,767 institutions awarding a degree in a relevant CIP code in 2021. However, according to O*NET OnLine's CIP CrossWalk, there are 85 CIP codes related to this occupation. This same pattern can be seen among most of the top occupations. The top 5 occupations are all associated with more than 50 CIP codes, which suggests that the roads students can take to enter these positions vary significantly.
Conclusion
The analysis of this data and related interactive dashboard provide a functional and practical alternative approach to evaluating colleges and institutions. It focuses on institutions that are able to prepare students for the future in high-demand occupations. It is important to note that no single ranking system can capture the full range of key factors when evaluating colleges and universities without some biases. Students and their families should use multiple sources of information when making decisions about higher education. The data does not include programs that have not awarded bachelor’s degrees in 2021, which may exclude newly added programs for institutions. It also does not account for occupations that have yet to be created.
For questions about this data and the provided analysis or for questions as to how Evolve Market Research can help your organization, please email info@evolvemarketresearch.com.
Primary data sources: O*NET OnLine, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), IPEDS Data Center
References
1 U.S News and World Report. (2023). Best Colleges 2022-2023: About the Rankings/Methodology. Retrieved from: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/rankings-methodologies
2 O*NET OnLine. (2022). Updating the O*NET-SOC Taxonomy: Incorporating the 2018 SOC Structure. Retrieved from: https://www.onetcenter.org/reports/Taxonomy2019.html
3 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Standard Occupational Classification. Retrieved from: https://www.bls.gov/soc/
4 National Center For Education Statistics. National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from: https://nces.ed.gov/
5 O*Net OnLine (2023) O*NET OnLine Help - Job Zones. Retrieved from: https://www.onetonline.org/help/online/zones
6 Ohio University Majors. Retrieved from: https://www.ohio.edu/majors
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