Higher education reformers have rightly lamented the fact that universities rarely assess the postgraduate success of their former students, and even more rarely make this type of information readily available to the public.  In calculating the annual list of Americas Best Colleges, at the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP) we have made it a priority to include this metric as an important factor in our methodology. The Forbes ranking distinguishes itself as the only entirely output-based assessment of American colleges and universities. In gauging the postgraduate success of alumni, Payscale.com, Whos Who in America and the Corporate Officers list are great data sources.  However, we believe that universities are in a unique position to collect and publish survey data detailing what their students do after leaving campus. Information on earnings, employment rates, satisfaction with ones education and instruction, ease in finding a job, whether one's college major field of study relates to his/her eventual job, etc., would all be very valuable in helping students and their parents to make informed college choices. Additionally, this information would help already enrolled college students pin down a major field of study, something that most find difficult as evidenced by statistics suggesting that at least half of students change their majors at least once. With four-year graduation rates well under 50% nationwide, this could prove helpful in encouraging timely degree completion.  The University of Pennsylvania Career Services office has set the bar high by establishing a comprehensive survey of recently graduated alumni and publishing it in a clear and accessible manner. Many Penn alumni pursue graduate studies, and this survey quantifies that by academic discipline. For those who continue on to full-time employment, the survey shows how they landed their positions (through Career Services resources, other career guides, etc), as well as the number finding employment and detailed salary information. The survey is so comprehensive, that it even reports average earnings of Penn students who are employed as summer interns.  A few other schools have similar information easily available. For example, Pennsylvanias other great university, Slippery Rock University, has a survey under its career services website and Ohio State University has something similar for students in its business school. Other schools may be doing this, but the results are either not easily accessible (which defeats the purpose of even publishing it in the first place) or are not made public at all. Some institutions keep the results of this type of survey locked away from the public in the "restricted access" portion of institutional data. This is a shame, especially for public institutions.  It seems that many schools would want to publish this data as a marketing tool to show prospective students the value of their educational products. So why don't we see more of this? Likely because schools that suspect they perform poorly relative to their peers resist publication of this data at all costs. Furthermore, most institutions suffer from minimal information about how their graduates actually compare to those of peer institutions. Rather than risking the threat of appearing inferior to ones competitors, it is simply less costly to maintain the status quo.  This may be one area where the U.S. Department of Education could provide a valuable service. A mandatory and standardized survey of alumni that is published via a clear and easily accessible national database would provide invaluable information to students and demand much needed transparency and accountability from America's colleges and universities.  Matthew Denhart is the administrative director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. Christopher Matgouranis, a student at Ohio University, serves as a research associate there.  Follow Forbes Opinions on Twitter Reading Unbound: The Forbes Booked Blog
Higher education is a huge investment. Colleges need to provide information on outcomes to both students and the public.