Improving higher education outcomes in the United States

AIR is committed to informing students’ choices about postsecondary education in the United States through improved transparency. AIR partners with states to use existing state data to power an interactive tool for students called Launch My Career. This tool intends to help students (and parents) understand the likely longer-term outcomes of their choice of institution and program by showing them information on the return on investment in ways that are easy to understand. Our goal is to make data useful, usable—and used—to help increase student success. 

Launch My Career started in 2015 through partnerships with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Strada Education Network as part of the College Measures initiative. It leverages AIR’s long-standing expertise in shedding light on program-level outcomes through its College Measures reports and tools for policymakers and students. Launch My Career’s interactive tool, designed for individuals and institutions, has been implemented in multiple states by state agencies and leaders trying to ensure more individuals have access to information about the return on investment of higher education institutions and majors and degree programs within institutions.

Launch My Career is the answer for state leaders who want to offer individuals information about the return on investment of enrolling in different certificate or degree programs and fields of study at a state’s higher education institutions—before they enroll. For the latest iteration of the tool, see Launch My Career Florida and Launch My Career Utah (available in August 2019).