Principles for Quality Education-to-Career Guidance

Today’s postsecondary institutions are addressing several complex challenges, from strengthening enrollment, to advocating for the value and relevance of higher education, to addressing the academic and nonacademic barriers students experience as they pursue their education and career goals. Meaningful progress has been made in recent decades to broaden access to postsecondary education and support students in completing what they started. However, although more students are completing postsecondary education, almost half are not working in college-level employment a decade after graduating.
Guidance in connecting education to a career can make the difference in improving completion and postcompletion outcomes. When grounded in effective practices including proactive outreach and comprehensive support, coaching is associated with improved persistence and graduation rates. The benefits of career-focused support extend beyond graduation as well. More than two-thirds of students who received coaching and guidance to connect their education to a career had a college-level job right out of college.
Yet as powerful as it can be, only 1 in 5 students at four-year institutions and less than 1 in 4 students at two-year institutions currently receive quality education-to-career guidance.
Timely education-to-career guidance can strengthen the connection between education and opportunity.