How Data Can Benefit Colleges & Universities: Part 2

HOST: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Digital Journeys. Today, we will follow up with Jim Holman and Anthony Pember on how data can not only benefit institutions, but also help set students up for success. With that, I turn it over to Jim and Anthony, who are both directors with Cherry Bekaert's Digital Advisory Practice.

JIM HOLMAN: Thank you, Jerry. I'm looking forward to continuing our discussion with Anthony on how data can help students and universities.

JIM HOLMAN: There are a couple of concepts I'll loop back to. We've discussed limited capacity of skilled data scientists to assemble this content and data that exists in silos and is not easily accessible.

JIM HOLMAN: We've discussed bridging student data with university financial data, which raises the question: are there other data elements colleges and universities should be collecting? Are there controversies or concerns about how that data would be collected or retained?

ANTHONY PEMBER: There are. In student retention and advising, understanding where a student is when they enter the institution and tracking that student throughout their university career can be valuable. For example, knowing a student's incoming GPA or SAT score can help predict whether the student will be successful in a given program.

ANTHONY PEMBER: Augmenting that information with ongoing tracking of academic progress enables early intervention. If a student is failing calculus but enrolled in an aeronautical engineering program, that could indicate the student is struggling and may need support. Intervention might not mean changing majors immediately but finding ways to help the student succeed and complete their degree on time, or to identify early if a program is not a good fit so the student can switch before incurring excess time and elective waste.

ANTHONY PEMBER: Some institutions have implemented location tracking of students' cell phones to measure where students congregate, whether they attend classes, and what campus areas attract students—similar to how RFID is used in theme parks to analyze queues and visitor movement.

ANTHONY PEMBER: Tracking cell phones can replace traditional attendance methods by indicating a student's presence in a classroom, but it raises privacy concerns because it involves collecting large amounts of personally identifiable information (PII). Students may object to being tracked, even with good intentions, and collecting that data increases the risk of a data breach. A breach exposing PII creates legal, security, and reputational risks for the institution.

ANTHONY PEMBER: Research information, particularly research with national security implications, is another area requiring protection. A data breach involving sensitive research information can be as damaging as one involving PII. For that reason, many universities do not allow certain data to be housed offshore. Institutions in the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. may restrict data storage in other countries because of differing privacy laws and potential government intrusion. There is a lot of controversy around this.

JIM HOLMAN: That controversy surrounding research information is real. Our ability to manage and secure collected data often lags the potential positive outcomes of better fulfilling a university's mission, which is student success. It's my hope that universities proactively determine the best approach to gather, collect, and utilize sensitive data in ways that improve the student experience.

ANTHONY PEMBER: One other point relates to financial information. I've focused on external controversies like data breaches and reputational risk, but there are internal controversies as well. Some believe no price should be put on education and that margins for academic programs shouldn't matter because the institution's mission is to educate. In practice, if many programs lose money, the institution cannot be sustained.

ANTHONY PEMBER: Introducing data-driven decision-making and financial metrics can be controversial internally. Student success measures are another example. If you ask ten faculty how to measure student success, you'll likely get many different answers. The difficulty of agreeing on meaningful metrics for student success creates internal controversy as well.

JIM HOLMAN: That's true. Part of student success is life after graduation. Can you think of challenges tied to collecting information while students are at university versus measuring their outcomes after they graduate and take their first or second job?

ANTHONY PEMBER: That's an ongoing challenge without a clear solution. Short of self-reporting, it's difficult to tie post-graduate outcomes to individual students. Public data sources, like the Bureau of Labor Statistics, provide averages on salaries, but the true measure of success is whether a student is employable at levels commensurate with their chosen career. Measuring that requires student-level salary data.

ANTHONY PEMBER: The ideal source would be tax records that show actual earnings for individuals who attended a specific institution. Pulling information from tax authorities would allow precise measurement, but that would be highly controversial. The idea of schools accessing tax returns would provoke substantial debate.

JIM HOLMAN: Ultimately, students may choose careers based on their ability to earn income over time, and that information could influence prospective students. However, tracking post-graduate income raises privacy concerns and could overlap with contemporary debates on student loans and debt forgiveness. If data about the cost of a degree versus earning potential were available earlier, it might change how students choose majors.

ANTHONY PEMBER: I agree. If we could provide students a clear view of their degree path, career trajectory, average debt load, and expected earnings, it might influence their decisions. For example, I worked with a private school of social work where the average debt load was close to $40,000, while average graduate earnings were less than $40,000. Students may not fully consider that math when choosing a degree.

ANTHONY PEMBER: That said, institutions also need to find ways to deliver education more efficiently and cost-effectively so students entering lower-earning fields can still receive meaningful education without an unsustainable debt load.

JIM HOLMAN: There are many students who pursue fields not primarily for income potential, and that is valid. Providing information helps students make informed choices so they enter degree programs with eyes open about the potential time it may take to repay loans. I think higher education has an obligation to provide that transparency.

ANTHONY PEMBER: There are tools available. Using publicly available data, I once built a tool that shows average graduate debt by institution and correlates it to earning potential across careers. The tool highlights outliers where the economics are favorable and where they are not. The challenge is making such tools easy to access and use; many students may not know these resources exist.

ANTHONY PEMBER: Responsibility lies on both sides. Students need greater awareness, and institutions need to consider more cost-effective delivery models so they can offer quality education in low-earning fields without imposing excessive debt burdens.

JIM HOLMAN: That's well put. Thank you, Anthony, for talking about how data can benefit students and universities. I hope everyone enjoyed this discussion.

ANTHONY PEMBER: Thanks, Jim. I really enjoyed the conversation today.

JIM HOLMAN: A call to action from Cherry Bekaert: if you'd like to learn more about how Cherry Bekaert can help your organization or how your college or university can maximize the benefits that data can bring, please contact us.

HOST: Thanks again, Jim and Anthony, for your insight today. Be sure to like and share this podcast and tune in again.