Editorial Revision 1/28- The original article wrongly stated that Lightcast began the NACM survey. Lightcast acquired the survey in 2023.

The 2023-2024 National Alumni Career Mobility (NACM) survey has revealed trends among Grand Valley State University alumni who graduated between 2013 and 2018. Most graduates surveyed felt their education was worth the cost of tuition, but said they worried about their ability to pay off student loan debt. Compared to other institutions, GVSU received higher scores in overall satisfaction and economic mobility from graduates. 

The NACM survey began in 2019 by the Career Leadership Collective and was acquired in 2023 by Lightcast, a labor market analytics company. The survey gathers information from alumni on their career satisfaction, economic mobility and community engagement, both five and 10 years post-graduation. For the most recent survey, 9,067 graduate responses were collected from 34 different institutions across the United States, 1,200 of which were connected to GVSU.

83% of NACM survey respondents from GVSU reported overall satisfaction with their education. However, many graduates identified feeling at odds with the cost of their education; 55% of respondents agreed their college degree was worth the cost of tuition, but 56% debated their capacity to pay off their accrued student loan debt. 

At GVSU, the annual cost of tuition varies from between $15,140 to $22,240. The average student loan debt for a bachelor’s degree in the United States is $30,000, with rates increasing each year.

Ashley Moubray, the vice president of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter at GVSU, said the precedent of student loan debt weighs just as heavily on her as the importance of education.

“GVSU does try to make (education) affordable through merit scholarships and other financial assistance programs, but to be honest, I don’t think it will ever be enough,” Moubray said. “When you think about how affordable college is in other countries, it really makes you stop and consider what it is that U.S. universities really care about.”

GVSU scored above the national average for economic mobility among first-generation students compared to NACM surveys of other university graduates, and also scored higher in overall education and career satisfaction than other institutions. GVSU will continue to collaborate with NACM to gather future data on graduates.

Alumni Relations Director Susan Proctor said the University uses the results to enhance educational practices and improve the overall university experience. 

“We (at GVSU) want to be your educational partner for life, and so hearing from our alums on how we’re doing that and how we can improve was the motivation (for the survey),” Proctor said.

As well as the cost of student loan debt, NACM survey results also indicated that equity gaps for historically marginalized populations were closely tied to respondents’ access to career preparation and institutional career investments. Respondents who identified as nonbinary, a first-generation students or African American showed lower Career Preparation (CP) scores, which measure an individual’s preparedness to launch a career after college. These groups also showed lower percentages of overall career satisfaction after graduation. Despite this, GVSU’s scores generally showed higher satisfaction and success rates among these populations compared to other schools.

“Institutions seeking socially-just outcomes should increase access to strategic influencers associated with Career Preparation and Institutional Career Investment, as well as ensure that student loan debt is manageable and able to be paid off within 10 years of graduation,” said Lightcast Survey Researcher Dr. Kimberly Yousey-Elsener, the author of the 2023-2024 report.

According to the University’s Career Center First Destination 2023 report, 71% of alumni become full-time employees post-graduation. Additionally, 85% of graduates were offered employment before they graduated. Overall, alumni agreed that their career status aligned with their intended goals, and expressed general satisfaction. 

“GVSU offers us every opportunity we need to prepare ourselves for the future, available to us even after graduation,” Moubray said. “But if we as students aren’t proactive for ourselves, then none of it really means anything.”