At a time when student debt is the highest it’s ever been, with global student debt exceeding US$1 trillion in 2012, it’s essential for students to have access to clear information about student finance, the financial consequences of taking out a loan, and the return on investment they can expect from a degree.
In answer to this need, the Council of Graduate Schools, a non-profit organization focused on graduate education and research, and the TIAA-CREF, a financial services company serving those in academia, medicine, research and cultural fields, have collaborated to create the GradSense website. Launched last week, GradSense aims to provide easy access to all the information and resources students need to make decisions about the financial side of higher education.
Making it easier to calculate return on investment
Providing online tools to help students plan their future education and careers, GradSense includes features such as a ‘Debt to Salary’ calculator, designed to help students calculate the return on investment they can expect from their education.
The website brings together US federal data on student debt alongside federal data on median salaries in specific industries and occupations for the first time. Although this information was already available, it was not readily accessible. This is the first time the two sets of information have been presented side by side in a clear format for students.
Eliminating the need to search out data from multiple databases, GradSense will hopefully enable students to get a better understanding of the correlation between investment in a specific degree and working within a desired profession.
Using GradSense to assess student finance and student debt
Each student is asked to input their preferred subject of study, along with their preferred career path. S/he is then shown a single page of data outlining the median student debt of those studying the specified degree, along with expected salary levels within the specified career, from starting and middle salaries up to expert pay grades.
Another feature of the site is the compound interest calculator, which aims to make clear the impact of student spending decisions as well as providing advice for repaying student finance, transition guidance from studies into a career, and tips for reviewing and negotiating job offers.
The site is part of the Enhancing Student Financial Education project, which has awarded grants to 15 institutions of higher learning within the US in an effort to develop new financial literacy programs teaching students about how to borrow, lend and manage their personal and student finances. The data and knowledge collected by these programs will serve to further the development of financial education resources for students across the US.
The president and CEO of TIAA-CREF, Robert W. Ferguson, states in a press release that this project and the collaboration with the Council of Graduate Education “…underscores the combined strengths the business and education sectors bring to bear on addressing the student loan debt issue, and when working together, the valuable impact we can have on the financial futures of our nation’s students.”