How Data Drives Student Success

Students at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, NY.The Institute of Higher Education Policy (IHEP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to access and success for students in postsecondary institutions, has released studies of two Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) that are leading the way in student success: four-year public University of North Texas (UNT) and two-year public LaGuardia Community College in New York City.

“We at IHEP are very focused on ensuring that higher education provides value to students, particularly students from low-income backgrounds and students of color, to ensure they’re receiving a real return on investment as a result of strong completion outcomes and strong workforce outcomes and connections between higher education and the workforce,” said Mamie Voight, president and CEO of IHEP.

IHEP identified these two institutions by using the Equitable Value Explorer, a free, publicly accessible site that analyzes data from colleges and universities across the country. UNT and LaGuardia’s student centered, data-driven approaches are helping their students succeed in the classroom and beyond, offering considerable returns on their educational investment.

Kenneth Adams, president of LaGuardia Community College.

Students who attend these institutions earn more than the median wage of high school graduates, plus enough to recoup their investment in college. But that’s just the minimum goal. IHEP also examined whether or not a student’s average earnings ten years after enrollment met or surpassed median wage earnings in their state. Students who leave both campuses tend to have post-college earnings that meet or exceed the median earnings for their degree level in their state.

“We are so encouraged by this recognition [from IHEP],” said LaGuardia President Kenneth Adams. “And we recognize we have a lot of work to do still, but it’s encouraging to know we’re moving in the right direction. We have to ensure students are well prepared for jobs related to their field [of study] that pay a family-sustaining wage in New York City.”

That is no easy feat, Adams acknowledged, especially as post-pandemic inflation and rent has skyrocketed across the city's five boroughs. LaGuardia is an MSI twice over — it meets the minimum demographic thresholds to qualify as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI). Forty-four percent of undergraduate enrollment is Latinx, and 20% is Asian American. Students at LaGuardia represent over 130 countries, and many students come to the school to take advantage of their English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program, the largest in the city. ESOL is housed in the school’s Adult Continuing Education (ACE) division.