<p>"earnings and graduation rates by major </p>
<p>that will benefit students how? By influencing them to choose a major with higher earnings and better graduation rates than the major they were otherwise contemplating?</p>
<p>But maybe the earnings and graduation rates are also a function of the students themselves, and an unqualified student who chooses a major based on the data will only lower the earnings average for that major and/or reduce the graduation rate for that major."</p>
<p>I still think that is better to have the information… Very likely, in the short run having an influx of students will change the statistics, but then they will end up converging to where they need to be, because students will drop from that major if prospects become worse.</p>
<p>Regarding state funding, I do not go to a state school, but my family does pay taxes. I do not think that it is necessarily a bad policy if a state decides to adjust support, shifting money to programs that are more successful according to the metrics that the state believes to be important. I can totally see graduation rates, for instance, as a very important metric for the states. </p>
<p>Now that I think more, this is perhaps the reason some people are against transparency. They want to keep the resources they have, regardless of productivity. I know by own experience that some departments are more into attracting students than others. The most <em>student needy</em> departments offer free pizza, drinks, etc. to those who attend their info sessions, while some other departments seem to always have a lot of students regardless.</p>