Chegg and CSO Research, Inc. to Track Career Outcomes of Recent College Graduates

Groundbreaking New National Study of College Grads Tracks Career Progression at Graduation and at 3, 6, and 12 Months After Commencement

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Chegg

Jun 09, 2015, 09:00 ET

AUSTIN, Texas and SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Chegg (NYSE: CHGG), the Student Hub, and CSO Research, Inc. announced today a partnership to create a groundbreaking nationwide tracking survey of career outcomes for recent college graduates. The Outcomes Survey®, which CSO Research currently conducts on behalf of more than 120 schools, provides rich insights on how recent grads fare immediately after commencement and at three, six and 12 months after finishing their studies at specific schools. In partnership with Chegg, The Outcomes Survey will now be expanded into a national study of more than 200,000 members of the class of 2015.

Return on investment in college has been questioned as students are finding themselves unemployed¹, underemployed² or in a job outside their chosen field³. Further, 50% of recent graduates do not feel that college prepared them well for employment, and only 39% of hiring managers felt recent graduates were prepared for employment in their field of study⁴. Outcomes data can be important to students and parents in deciding where to attend college as more than half of recent grads would pick a different major or school if they could make their college choices over again⁵.

"Chegg is committed to improving the outcomes for all students, and understanding how students fare in the workforce after they graduate hasn't been transparent to-date," said Anne Dwane, Chief Business Officer at Chegg. "CSO has already proven the effectiveness of The Outcomes Survey as a research tool, and with our reach into the college audience we can now make the survey applicable to the entire graduating class on a national scale."

Academic institutions that partner with CSO Research to survey their graduates are able to use this outcomes data in their admissions recruiting, academic and career advising, and alumni relations, and to submit career outcomes data and reports to state and federal agencies, the media, professional associations, and accrediting bodies. Partner schools also receive an anonymized national aggregate dataset at six and 12 months post-graduation for use comparing their students to national averages.

"The Outcomes Survey is a rich data source for the more than 120 schools that already use it, offering administrators insights into how their classes fare upon graduation and potentially identifying areas for intervention," said Matt Berndt, Vice President of CSO Research, Inc. "For students and parents, the national survey offers the type of comparable data that is necessary to make informed decisions on what and where they study based on potential career tracks."

The Outcomes Survey – Methodology

The Outcomes Survey is an updateable, continuous survey designed to capture career outcomes data on new college graduates from commencement to 12-months post-graduation. Responses from graduates of CSO client schools are solicited via a five-stage direct email campaign. Graduates receive a preview email introducing the survey and four response-prompt emails over the one year survey period. Responses are solicited from all graduates at all survey stages in order to gather comprehensive and up-to-date information on graduate occupational outcomes throughout the first year after degree completion.

To deliver a national sample, Chegg will additionally solicit responses, at identical intervals, to more than 200,000 recent graduates from schools who are not CSO clients.

Institutional clients of The Outcomes Survey use it to gather data on all recent graduates, and have access to analytics, mass email, and administrator entry tools to monitor and boost response rates and overall data collection rates.

In addition to detailed campus-specific reports and data, The Outcomes Survey's institutional clients receive anonymized aggregate national reports at six and 12 months post-graduation for use in comparing their graduates to the national aggregate.

About Chegg
Chegg puts students first and is proud to have saved students and their families more than $500 million in 2014 alone. As the leading student-first connected learning platform, Chegg's Student Hub makes higher education more affordable and more accessible, all while improving student outcomes. Chegg is a publicly-held company based in Santa Clara, California and trades on the NYSE under the symbol CHGG. For more information, visit www.chegg.com.

About CSO Research
CSO Research, Inc. helps launch the careers of the college-educated workforce through innovative technology solutions, research services and online content. For more information, visit http://www.csoresearch.com.

¹ https://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/HardTimes2015-Report.pdf
² http://www.ny.frb.org/research/current_issues/ci20-1.pdf
³ https://mckinseyonsociety.com/voice-of-the-graduate/
⁴ http://che.gg/skillsgap
⁵ https://mckinseyonsociety.com/voice-of-the-graduate/

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