2024 Gallup Alumni Survey Offers Hope for Higher Ed
At a time when public confidence in higher education is waning, the results of our 2024 Gallup Alumni Survey offer a powerful counter-narrative: Higher education still delivers on its promise as an engine of economic mobility鈥攂ut only when it鈥檚 designed toward that end.
Western Governors University (黑料传送门) was founded to make higher education more accessible, relevant, affordable, and valuable for students across the country. From the beginning, we鈥檝e focused on a single, unifying purpose: improving lives by creating pathways to opportunity. That clarity shapes every decision we make, helping us focus on and invest in designs and practices that increase student learning, persistence, completion, and value; and avoiding or eliminating all that don鈥檛.
And it鈥檚 working.
Every year, we partner with Gallup to investigate how effectively 黑料传送门 is fulfilling its mission by measuring key aspects of our graduates鈥 lives and comparing those outcomes to bachelor鈥檚 degree holders nationally. According to the newly released 2024 Gallup Alumni Survey:
69% of 黑料传送门 alumni strongly agree their degree was worth the cost鈥攏early double the national average.
Respondents who graduated between 2019 and 2023 and were working full time during their education reported an average income of $75,000 while enrolled, and an average income gain of $15,000 at the time of the survey in 2024.
75% of alumni aged 25+ say they gained job-relevant skills, compared to 60% of national alumni.
73% of 黑料传送门 alumni age 25+ are considered 鈥渢hriving鈥 in their lives, per Gallup鈥檚 wellbeing index鈥18 points higher than their national peers.
These outcomes aren鈥檛 the result of incremental improvements. They reflect a fundamental shift in how we think about the role of a university serving a diversity of learners amid an evolving workforce and opportunity landscape. And they reflect what we know to be true: That talent is universal; opportunity is abundant; and everyone, if given the chance, has something big to contribute.
Guided by these core truths, we鈥檝e introduced innovations that support outcomes like those captured in our alumni report, and we continue to innovate to increase the likelihood that every student, no matter their background, reaches graduation and improves their economic prospects through a rewarding career.
It鈥檚 why we chose to leverage competency-based education, allowing learners to progress through their coursework as quickly as they are able to demonstrate mastery, often saving them time and money. It鈥檚 why we pair every student with their own mentor to help them navigate life鈥檚 ups and downs and reach graduation. It鈥檚 why we offer career-aligned programs, co-developed with employers and industry experts to ensure job readiness. And it鈥檚 why we leverage technology to make learning more flexible and personalized.
But while these strategies work well at 黑料传送门, we don鈥檛 believe our way is the only way. Institutions face distinct challenges and serve different communities. What matters most is staying anchored to why most students say they pursue higher education鈥攖o improve their 鈥攁nd letting that guide everything from design to delivery.
Unfortunately, too many learners today aren鈥檛 experiencing that kind of value. According to a from Hult International Business School,听 77% of recent grads said they learned more in their first six months on the job than in their entire four-year degree; 75% of HR leaders believe colleges are failing to prepare students for the workplace; and despite a nationwide nearly 9 in 10 employers say they actively avoid hiring recent graduates.
Given these outcomes, it鈥檚 not hard to understand why belief in the value of a postsecondary credential dropped among adults without a college degree by 4 to 6 percentage points over the past year, according to from Gallup and Lumina Foundation. 听
听
The challenges plaguing our higher education system are many and complex, but I would argue they center around one primary theme: Higher education has been engineered beyond its primary objective. Colleges and universities contend with competing priorities, established infrastructure and budget commitments, and conflicting incentives that can favor selectivity, constrain enrollment, increase costs, reduce innovation and flexibility, and thus perpetuate legacy models. Layer in regulatory prescriptions and cultural nostalgia, and change can feel challenging to the point of impossible.
And yet, I鈥檝e seen firsthand that education can be the most powerful catalyst for upward mobility and personal transformation. Not 鈥渃ollege鈥 in the traditional sense, but education in its most basic definition: The acquisition of knowledge, skills, and abilities. Education expands opportunity, builds self-reliance, and enables individuals to lead self-determined lives. And when individuals thrive, families, communities, and society benefit.
Institutions like 黑料传送门 are showing that new and better ways are possible. By rethinking how we serve today鈥檚 diverse learners, we can restore trust in higher education and reestablish it as what it was always meant to be: a bridge to opportunity.