Blog
New Earnings Test Data: Only 2% of College Degree Programs at Risk
The HEA Group has analyzed all 32,578 undergraduate programs in the Education Department’s new data determining which college programs may remain eligible for federal student loan participation.
Is College Still Worth It? The Harlan Cohen Podcast with Michael Itzkowitz
Harlan Cohen sat down with Michael Itzkowitz, director behind the College Scorecard and founder & president of The HEA Group.
Equity Chat 2.0 with Michael Itzkowitz: Return on Investment in Higher Education
In this episode of Equity Chat 2.0, Dr. Keith Curry sits down with Michael Itzkowitz, a nationally recognized higher education policy expert with more than 15 years of experience inside and outside the federal government.
Why America has lost faith in college and what to do about it
A new op-ed by Michael Itzkowitz argues that our higher education institutions must be willing to demonstrate their value through the transparency and accountability that students, families, taxpayers and our national economy rightfully demand.
“Golden Returns: Which Community Colleges Deliver the Best Economic Outcomes” on The Rant Podcast with Eloy Ortiz Oakley of College Futures Foundation
Season four of the Rant Podcast kicks off with a deep dive into educational value and economic mobility. Host Eloy Ortiz-Oakley welcomes returning guest Michael Itzkowitz to discuss their groundbreaking "Golden Returns" report examining which California community colleges and certificate programs deliver the strongest financial returns for students.
“The New Accountability Era: Michael Itzkowitz On Data, Value, and the OBBB” on CLASP’s The Post “PLUS” Podcast
Michael Itzkowitz, founding director of the College Scorecard and head of the HEA Group, joins CLASP’s The Post “PLUS” Podcast to unpack how the conversation around value in higher education has evolved. From the early days of measuring cost and graduation rates to today’s 2,000+ data points, he shares how transparency, ROI, and new federal requirements are reshaping what college means for students, institutions, and the workforce.
Op-Ed: 50 States, 50 Opportunities for Economic Mobility
A new op-ed by Michael Itzkowitz argues that abundant and transparent data, plus best practices, can mean the world to students looking to move up the economic ladder.
Op-Ed: Clamping down on good, publicly available higher education data will send our system into a dark spiral
A new op-ed by Michael Itzkowitz argues that clamping down on good, publicly available higher education data will send our university system and its students down a dark spiral.
Making College Worth It: How Data Can Transform Higher Education
To truly ensure students’ education pays off long-term, colleges need support to turn program-level data insights into concrete improvements. A new blog post by the HEA Group’s Laura Jimenez and Michael Itzkowitz.
California Mobility Index: A New View on Economic Mobility
College Futures Foundation and the HEA Group prioritize economic mobility as a cornerstone of their missions and recognize that postsecondary education provides a critical pathway to a better life for underserved learners across California. The inaugural California Mobility Index (CMI) includes 82 four-year institutions that together enroll 785,576 undergraduate students. It describes the extent to which institutions drive upward mobility among underserved learners.
Purposeful Pathways: Where Is College Still Worth It?
In this webinar, HEA Group President Michael Itzkowitz joins James Cryan of Willow Education to discuss strategies on how to assess—and improve—ROI at institutions and college programs across the United States. They provide an overview of the kind of returns that students can expect after enrollment and upon completion of their program.
The Rant: Podcast with Eloy Ortiz Oakley of College Futures Foundation
Can higher education be the key to economic mobility for low and moderate-income learners in California? Michael Itzkowitz from the HEA Group joins Eloy Oakley to delve into this pressing question. Uncover the surprising findings of his latest report with the College Futures Foundation, "California Programs that Pay: Measuring Return on Investment Across Majors and Credentials."
California College Programs That Pay
In this report, we take a closer look at individual college programs and the time it takes graduates to recoup their educational costs after earning their credential within specific fields of study. The report provides policymakers, college administrators, researchers, and advocates with additional data on how well individual college programs serve learners from an economic perspective.
Three Primers: College Access, College Affordability, and Economic Outcomes
As part of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s efforts, the HEA Group was commissioned to provide three primers on college access, college affordability and economic outcomes. These papers were intended to inform the Carnegie Postsecondary Commission’s work to produce transformational change within the US higher education system as we know it.
The Rant: Podcast with Eloy Ortiz Oakley of College Futures Foundation
Get behind the data and value of higher education as Michael Itzkowitz engages in a focused conversation with Eloy Oakley of College Futures Foundation. Together, they dissect the HEA Group’s work on the commissioned "Golden Opportunities" report, delving into the intricacies of California's higher education investments and what they mean for students from low-to-moderate-income economic backgrounds.
How to Identify an Institution for the Purposes of Measuring Socioeconomic Mobility
In this paper, Michael Itzkowitz explores the challenges and opportunities presented by analyzing data collected at different levels of analysis within the same project. Given that federal data collection programs define and report data at different levels of analysis, this is a considerable analytical problem. He advances simple and effective techniques for harmonizing different types of variables collected at different levels of analysis.
Golden Opportunities: Measuring Return on Investment in California Higher Education for Low- and Moderate-Income Learners
In this analysis, we explore whether California colleges are delivering on their promise for people from low- and moderate-income backgrounds. Specifically, we examine how long it takes students and families in this income category to recoup their educational costs after attending an institution of higher education.
Ensuring a Living Wage Through Higher Education
In this paper, we examine the economic outcomes that students obtain by pursuing a postsecondary credential within the United States. Specifically, we look at several minimal economic benchmarks to see just how many colleges exceed — or fail to meet — basic financial outcomes for the students who attend.
The College Completion Crisis Fuels the Student Debt Crisis
In the newest issue brief between NASFAA and the HEA Group, we explore the extent to which college completion impacts student loan repayment. The result? Those who did not complete college now owe $918 million more than they borrowed in the first place.
Think Hard: Your Graduate School’s Sector Matters
In this report, the HEA Group and Student Defense analyzes the five most popular master’s and doctoral programs awarded in the United States and examines whether there are differences in how much students earn—and how much they owe—based on their specific course of study.