American College of Education Calls for Better ROI, Lower Debt in Nursing and Healthcare Degrees

A leading national provider of accredited online graduate degrees endorses Georgetown University group’s report recommending disclosure of earnings and debt costs and calls on colleges to freeze tuition for five years.

A new report from a respected Georgetown University research group finds that healthcare programs are among the most expensive for graduate students, contributing to high borrowing levels. American College of Education (ACE), one of the country’s top providers of accredited online graduate degrees, including master’s degrees online, endorses the report’s call for greater transparency on loan debt and return on investment and graduate programs nationwide to significantly reduce tuition costs.

ACE, founded in 2005, offers more than 60 accredited doctoral, specialist, master’s and bachelor’s degrees and graduate-level certificate programs. ACE is known for its quality, flexibility and affordability. ACE has not increased tuition since 2016 and 86% of its students graduate with no debt.

The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce’s “Graduate Degrees: Risky and Unequal Paths to the Top” report documents that the cost of graduate education has more than tripled over the past 20 years, particularly in the healthcare fields in which 73% of students go into debt, compared to 53% across all fields.

The report highlights that healthcare students hold the most debt ($93,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars), significantly higher than overall ($50,000) across all fields of study. More than half (54%) of healthcare students end up with an average of over $45,000 in debt upon graduation. Additionally, the report states that student demand for graduate degrees in healthcare continues to rise, accounting for 24% of enrollments.

To protect students and maintain the value of a graduate degree, the researchers recommend assessing graduate health programs with a “debt-to-earnings test,” examining degree recipients’ federal loan payments in relation to their earnings, and an “in-field earnings premium test,” comparing the earnings of workers with graduate degrees to those without them.

ACE strongly supports the debt-to-earnings test, which would call for loan payments to not exceed 10% of the graduate’s median discretionary earnings. The debt-to-earnings test is particularly relevant to healthcare professionals.

ACE also endorses the in-field earnings premium test, which would ensure healthcare professionals achieve significant ROI on their investment in a graduate degree, earning at least 5% more compared to workers of a similar age and location without the degree.

An independent study by economists at labor market analysis firm Lightcast found a return of $19.20 in increased future earnings for every dollar a student invests in their education at ACE. This amounts to an average annual rate of return of 120.7%.

ACE also urges graduate schools to advocate for healthcare professionals by decreasing tuition costs without losing quality, eliminating non-value-added costs, and adopting new technology when possible.

ACE also improves affordability by choosing not to participate in federal Title IV financial aid programs, which reduces operational costs and reduces costs to students. The college also has a team dedicated to evaluating credit for prior learning (CPL) and extensive professional development content partnerships, which help students decrease the duration and cost of their program.

ACE also maintains a strong record of student success, with an 85% graduation rate, and more than 11,000 current students and 44,000 alumni. Students can complete ACE’s accredited online healthcare degrees in the comfort of their homes, on their own schedules, with free tutoring and student support services. Students can learn more by visiting ACE’s “Student Right to Know” webpage.

Hyland will discuss ACE’s model of success in an upcoming The Future of Education podcast. For more information regarding ACE’s online healthcare degrees, please visit the ACE website.

About American College of Education

American College of Education (ACE) is an accredited, fully online college specializing in high-quality, affordable programs in education, business, leadership, healthcare and nursing. Headquartered in Indianapolis, ACE offers more than 60 innovative and engaging programs for adult students to pursue a doctorate, specialist, master’s or bachelor’s degree, along with graduate-level certificate programs.