American higher education faces a credibility crisis: Fewer than half of Americans believe colleges are headed in the right direction. Stories of unemployed graduates saddled with crushing debt fuel skepticism about whether college is worth the investment.

Some blame a rise in college costs. Others say institutions no longer demonstrate the same economic benefits they once did. College leaders may claim the criticism is misguided.

Either way, one thing is clear: Higher education needs reinvention to once again be viewed as a guaranteed path to economic prosperity. And policymakers, colleges and administrators must embrace this change.

This isn’t just a branding problem — it’s a threat to American economic competitiveness. When families lose faith in college’s value, they’re less likely to participate in it. Fewer students means less political support for higher education funding, which leads to higher costs for the remaining students, further eroding confidence.

We need to break that cycle sooner rather than later. In just six years, an estimated 72 percent of jobs will require postsecondary education or training. The economy is becoming more knowledge-intensive, not less. The disconnect between public perception and economic reality undermines the skilled workforce America needs to compete globally.

But there’s good news — the most powerful tools for rebuilding trust in higher education already exist. Federal and state databases can show what students study and how much they earn. Labor market projections show which industries are growing and what skills they need. 

Together, these data can answer the fundamental question: “Will this education lead to a good job that justifies the time and money I’m investing?”

Sometimes, the data might reveal that struggling programs aren’t teaching the right skills, connected to local employers or providing adequate career services. 

Without using this information to diagnose these problems, colleges can’t fix them, and students continue to waste their time and money on programs that don’t deliver on their promises.

Proving and improving value isn’t impossible — it just requires honest assessment in three key areas.

First, policymakers and institutions regularly celebrate when students walk across the stage at graduation, then lose track of them completely. Instead, we must follow students into the workforce and ask hard questions: Are they getting jobs? Do their salaries justify the cost? Are they advancing in their careers?

Second, colleges need to match their programs to actual job opportunities. Many offer programs without any real connection to their local job market — in fact, 28 percent of middle-skills credentials have no clear job match in the marketplace. 

Imagine training switchboard operators in the cell phone age. Institutions must align their programs to employer needs, regularly measure to see if their offered credentials are still relevant and adjust courses of study accordingly.

Third, colleges must bridge skill gaps between curriculum and employer needs. Even when certificates or degrees align with job opportunities, a mismatch between what’s being taught and what’s required to thrive in the workforce can leave graduates unprepared. 

Take business administration — it’s a field with plenty of openings, but if programs overemphasize marketing while ignoring data analytics or AI awareness, graduates may struggle to compete. Smart, adaptive colleges must identify and fix these disconnects before students graduate.

These steps are common sense, but might also feel like a fundamental reimagination of higher education’s relationship with students and society. Naturally, some might resist this change. Congress worries about jobs being lost in their district if institutions aren’t up to snuff. Faculty and administrators fret about program cuts and oversimplified educational goals. 

But the alternative — continuing to operate without clear accountability while public trust erodes and our global competitors surge ahead — is far worse. Individual colleges can’t solve this confidence problem alone, and frankly, many won’t change without external pressure. 

Congress just passed a law that will require college programs to prove their value beyond a high school diploma — that’s a start. State governments, which provide significant funding for public higher education, must also lead by requiring institutions to prove their value through concrete outcomes.

If we continue to fund institutions or college programs that leave students worse off economically, it’s a waste of their time and taxpayer money. Even worse, it’s often our most vulnerable populations enrolling in these programs that serve more as perpetrators of socioeconomic inequality rather than engines of economic mobility.

Here’s what makes this approach so powerful: When colleges prove their value through data and outcomes, everyone wins. Students get better returns on their educational investments. Institutions rebuild public trust and secure their futures. And America gets the skilled workforce it needs to remain globally competitive.

The future belongs to the colleges and universities that can prove their worth through results, not rhetoric. The question isn’t whether higher education is valuable, it’s whether our institutions are willing to demonstrate that value through the transparency and accountability that students, families, taxpayers and our national economy rightfully demand. 

The time for proving worth through data and outcomes isn’t coming — it’s here.

Michael Itzkowitz is founder and president of the HEA Group, a national policy organization focused on college access, value, and economic mobility. He previously served as the director of the College Scorecard at the U.S. Department of Education.