The effects of proprietary and community college systems on individual monetary value in Nebraska

Accountability for educational output is becoming increasingly essential as public funding for postsecondary education is decreasing. An alternate source of education that requires no public funding or accountability to taxpayers is proprietary education. Currently, these systems are not recognized for the contributions they make to the postsecondary educational sector, nor the monetary value they have on an individual in Nebraska. This research considered the monetary value of proprietary and community college educations in Nebraska. Monetary value was measured in terms of the value to an individual. Comparisons of the monetary values of degrees granted by these two types of educational institutions were made. Some important questions were addressed in this research. One of them was, What, if any, difference exists in terms of cost differentials between proprietary and community college education? Another was, Were proprietary postsecondary and community college educations comparable in terms of earning differentials? Finally, the research addressed whether one educational system provided a higher or lower internal rate of return than the other. Three things were concluded. First, there does exist a difference in the costs of attending a proprietary college and a community college. The cost differentials between proprietary college graduates and community college graduates was $5,826 in 1992–93, $6,802 in 1993–94, and $7,951 in 1994–95, with the proprietary college costs being higher than community college costs. Second, there is a slight difference in earnings between graduates of proprietary and community colleges. In 1993, the average difference in wages between community college graduates and proprietary college graduates in Nebraska was $1,738, in 1994, that difference was $2,716, and by 1995 that difference was only $608. The wages for community college graduates were higher than the wages for proprietary college graduates. Third, a difference in internal rates of return does exist between proprietary and community college graduates with the rate of return on investment being higher for community college graduates. These conclusions are based on data collected in the field that were then subjected to a formula for internal rate of return. The analysis provided insight into an individual\u27s monetary value for a publicly funded community college education and for a proprietary college education in Nebraska