Overview

The Postsecondary Value Series is a three-report research series released in September 2026 by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. The research examines how the value of postsecondary education and training can be defined and measured and how different measures can be applied by policymakers, education leaders, researchers, employers, students, and other stakeholders. The series responds to growing interest in determining whether postsecondary credentials produce sufficient value for students, workers, taxpayers, employers, and society. It examines:

• Monetary outcomes, such as earnings and return on investment.
• Nonmonetary outcomes, including individual well-being, social benefits, and civic engagement.
• The increasing use of postsecondary value measures for transparency, accountability, funding, institutional improvement, and workforce development.

There are three reports in the series:

• Report 1: From Mann to Markets: Evolving Ideas About the Value of Postsecondary Education and Training to Individuals and Society
  • Examines how ideas about the purposes and value of education have evolved in the United States.
  • Traces the movement from broad conceptions of education as contributing to individual development and society toward a greater emphasis on human capital, labor-market outcomes, earnings, and return on investment.
  • The report cautions that economic measures alone do not capture the full range of benefits associated with postsecondary education and training.
• Report 2: Measuring Postsecondary Value: A Model for Applying Research to Policy and Practice
  • Introduces the Postsecondary Value Model, a framework intended to help stakeholders select and apply measures appropriate to different questions and purposes.
  • The model organizes measures into six categories: investment, education, employment, earnings, wealth, and well-being.
  • The model moves from educational inputs and outputs toward short- and longer-term outcomes.
  • Measures examined include costs and debt, educational access and success, skills and competencies, credential attainment, job placement, job quality and advancement, workforce alignment, earnings, return on investment, economic mobility, wealth accumulation, and personal, social, and civic well-being.
  • The report argues there is no single measure of postsecondary value appropriate for every purpose.
  • It identifies six principal uses for value measures: transparency for students and workers, improvement by education practitioners, accountability by leaders, policy and funding decisions, workforce development by employers, and explaining the case for postsecondary education to the public.
• Report 3: A Framework for Assessing the Value of Postsecondary Education and Training: State Guidance
  • Translates the research into guidance for state policymakers, analysts, researchers, and practitioners.
  • Addresses two major applications: assessing the broad value that a postsecondary education and training system generates for a state and using transparency and accountability measures to determine whether institutions and programs provide value to students.
  • The state guidance considers economic returns, employment stability, career navigation, job quality, workforce alignment, civic and social benefits, credential completion, licensing and certification outcomes, short-term workforce credentials, and the challenges involved in assessing programs that prepare workers for socially important but relatively low-paid occupations. It also emphasizes the importance of state longitudinal data and integrated education and workforce information systems.

The series is significant because it moves discussion of credentials of value beyond a single earnings or return-on-investment (ROI) measure. Instead, it treats postsecondary value as multidimensional and dependent in part on the purpose for which the information is being used.

The research is especially relevant to efforts involving credential transparency, education and workforce data, career pathways, skills and competencies, workforce alignment, learning and employment records, accountability, outcomes-based funding, and consumer information.

It also gives employers a defined role in the postsecondary-value discussion.

The second report identifies workforce development as one of the major use cases for value measurement and argues that education providers and employers share responsibility for connecting training, work-based learning, career pathways, and quality employment.

Background

Questions about the value of postsecondary education and training have taken on increased importance as students, families, policymakers, employers, and the public seek stronger evidence that credentials lead to meaningful outcomes. At the same time, postsecondary education and training are becoming increasingly important for participation in the labor market, while concerns about college costs, student debt, employment and earnings outcomes, and declining public confidence in higher education have intensified scrutiny of the value delivered by institutions and programs.

This increased attention led to the development of numerous approaches for defining and measuring postsecondary value. Many emphasize earnings and return on investment, while others incorporate measures such as employment, job quality, economic mobility, wealth, personal well-being, and civic and social benefits.

The proliferation of frameworks and metrics has created a practical challenge: which measures of value should be used, for what purposes, and for which audience. Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce developed the three-report Postsecondary Value Series to address that challenge and to provide a more comprehensive framework for understanding, measuring, and applying postsecondary value in research, policy, and practice.

The three reports approach the issue sequentially. The first examines how conceptions of educational value evolved and why earnings and return on investment have become dominant measures; the second organizes monetary and nonmonetary measures into a Postsecondary Value Model; and the third translates this work into practical guidance for states seeking to assess public value, improve transparency and accountability, and strengthen postsecondary outcomes.

Funders

Research in the series was supported by Arnold Ventures and the Gates Foundation. Earlier work supported by Lumina Foundation and Gates Foundation also informed portions of the research.

Resources

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. (2026). Postsecondary educational value: Why it matters, who is measuring it, and where we go now. [Executive summary.] Executive summary PDF

Strohl, J., Peltier Campbell, K., & Gulish, A. (2026). From Mann to markets: Evolving ideas about the value of postsecondary education and training to individuals and society. Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Report 1 PDF

Engle, J., Cheung, B., Rudravajhala, S., Sotelo Redhead, A., Adelson, M., & Strohl, J. (2026). Measuring postsecondary value: A model for applying research to policy and practice. Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Report 2 PDF

Gulish, A., Peltier Campbell, K., & Strohl, J. (2026). A framework for assessing the value of postsecondary education and training: State guidance. Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Report 3 PDF

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. (2026, September 23). Postsecondary educational value: Why it matters, who is measuring it, and where we go now. Postsecondary Value Series website