Ms. Lorenz, who is 55 and has been a sculptor for more than 30 years, went back to school for a master of fine arts degree, only to find after graduation in 1997 that the credential opened no doors in academia or the art world.
Any ranking that doesn't consider the student experience and the kinds of careers students find after graduation is missing a big part of the picture.
The problem, of course, is that if every student's potential objections were treated as vetoes, it would be impossible to find a graduation speaker who had done anything serious or interesting with his or her life.
You can usually find inexpensive graduation decorations at dollar stores or discount warehouses.
Dr. Ehrenberg and a colleague analyzed 15 years of national data and found that graduation rates declined when public universities hired large numbers of contingent faculty.
Sophie Bobb, a mathematics major, described an interview with "one man who said, 'If I were you, I'd look for a job elsewhere, because I don't think we'd hire a woman.' " Like many classmates, the only job Ms. Bobb found after graduation was at Macy's.
One idea proposed in the president's college affordability plan is a rating system that ranks schools based on factors like graduation rates, levels of post-graduation debt, and students' ability to find employment after graduation.
Hartel says that all of the University of Wisconsin's graduate students and about 95% of undergraduates from the United States either find employment before graduation or pursue graduate studies.
Uganda has the highest youth population on the continent and annually graduates 40,000 from our universities but only 8,000 are able to find work upon graduation.
"It's true that some students cannot find jobs after graduation.
