St. Olaf prez: What liberal-arts colleges should post on their Web sites

"... We should be able to say exactly where the students who crossed the stage and shook the President’s hand at the last commencement are six months later:  what percent have jobs, what percent have gone on to graduate or professional school, what percent are doing other things and what those things are.

This information should be available by major. We should be able to name the top employers of our graduates, have information about their starting salaries, disclose our graduates’ acceptance rates into graduate and professional programs, and name the institutions at which they are studying.

This information should be available on our websites, clearly displayed in a manner that is easy to understand, and widely shared with prospective students and their families and with all of our other key constituencies."

-- St. Olaf College President David R. Anderson on a recent Council of Independent Colleges panel discussing how to communicate the value of the liberal arts to the public and potential students.

You can read the text of his address above and see what Twin Cities higher-education marketing consultant John Lawlor said on the subject here and here.

 

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