{"id":3861,"date":"2026-02-12T14:37:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T22:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/?p=3861"},"modified":"2026-03-04T10:28:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T18:28:37","slug":"enlisting-roi-to-better-align-academic-credentials-and-workforce-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/enlisting-roi-to-better-align-academic-credentials-and-workforce-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"Enlisting ROI to Better Align Academic Credentials and Workforce Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As higher education struggles with declining enrollment, states are using return on investment reviews to merge education and workforce systems and enhance economic outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Incorporating ROI metrics has become common practice, with at least&nbsp;46 states&nbsp;reporting college success outcomes and 35 states reporting workforce outcomes, according to Britebound, a nonprofit that helps students identify academic and career opportunities. ROI measures try to capture the amount of time it takes for a college graduate to break even on the cost of their postsecondary education and begin to earn more than a high school graduate. ROI formulas that estimate a program\u2019s break-even point provide more nuance than those looking solely at earnings data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/state-legislatures-news\/details\/enlisting-roi-to-better-align-academic-credentials-and-workforce-needs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Read more on National Conference of State Legislatures<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As higher education struggles with declining enrollment, states are using return on investment reviews to merge education and workforce systems &#8230; <a title=\"Enlisting ROI to Better Align Academic Credentials and Workforce Needs\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/enlisting-roi-to-better-align-academic-credentials-and-workforce-needs\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Enlisting ROI to Better Align Academic Credentials and Workforce Needs\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"client_controls":[],"class_list":["post-3861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Enlisting ROI to Better Align Academic Credentials and Workforce Needs - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/enlisting-roi-to-better-align-academic-credentials-and-workforce-needs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Enlisting ROI to Better Align Academic Credentials and Workforce Needs - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As higher education struggles with declining enrollment, states are using return on investment reviews to merge education and workforce systems ... 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