Alumni Want to Know About the Increasing Value of Their Degree
Unlike the other three stakeholder groups, faculty and staff, students and their parents, and the community, alumni do not have a direct economic tie to the institution. As alumni they generally do not draw a salary, are not matriculating, and often live far away from campus. Even though most alumni do not have a direct economic relationship with the institution; they are often its largest and most important supporter through both treasure and time. Why is this?
The answer may seem obvious. Some say that it is because of the relationship created between the individual and the institution during a very formative time for the alumnus/a . Others contend that it is a bond tied to activities or professors that the alumnus/a engaged in or with as a student. While these and others are probably contributing factors, our research keeps coming back to alumni’s perceived “Equity of Degree”. They clearly want to know that the value of their degree has increased since they left and that the institution is taking actions that will further increase that value in the future. The other thing we have seen from our work with over 120 universities and colleges is that alumni from different institutions often have a very different definition of value for their degree. Equity of degree is going to be different for a liberal arts college in the northeast than from a faith-based college in the south. The key, to successfully targeting programs and communications to where it will have the most impact, in part, is in knowing how your alumni define “Equity of Degree” and how it varies between age groups and other key demographic distinctions.
In a review of our national database, we see a difference between young and old alumni in the intensity of impact that Value and Respect of Degree has on their opinion of the university or college. Young alumni know that their diploma is one of the most important parts of their resume. For the most part, they do not have work experience or relevant references to support their job search and have to rely on the value and respect for their degree as a critical factor in getting the job they want. This is probably one of the main reasons we see significantly more interest in Value and Respect of the Degree among younger alumni. As seen in this chart, 55% of young alumni say that Value and Respect for Their Degree critically impacts their opinion of their alma mater, while only 35% of older alumni agree. It is also interesting to note that the amount of agreement increases proportionally depending on how long it has been since their graduation.
In many ways, alumni are very similar across the country. We see this over and over in our analysis. In other, important ways, however, alumni are different. They are different from other stakeholder groups and different from each other. Alumni from one institution are different from alumni at another institution. Younger alumni are different from older alumni and the things that motivate young alumni at one university are not necessarily the things that will motivate young alumni at a different university or college. Still, there are some constants. One of these is equity of degree. The level of importance alumni place on Equity of Degree” may vary over time but the issue still percolates to top of the list for almost every group. The trick is in defining what equity of degree is for your alumni as it pertains to your institution.
In our research we find that the following items are often key contributors to how alumni define equity of degree:
- Career related services for students and alumni
- The caliber of academics and classes at the institution
- How well the university or college promotes faculty/student relationships
- How well the institution provides students with the skills they need to be successful in their career(s)
- School rank
Others issues like adherence to the faith mission will be part of the mix for certain types of institutions and some of these listed are not as important at one school as compared to another. In working with each institution’s alumni responses to our attitudinal research we are able to help individual institutions identify how their alumni define Equity of Degree, put it into context relative to other alumni from around the country, and then, more importantly, translate that into actions through modifications to programs, communications, and messaging. Even more importantly, many institutions can take this data to form more effective and cohesive coalitions with other groups on campus.
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