Palmer College earns top scores in study by Brookings

May 11, 2015 — In a new study by the Brookings Institution, Palmer College of Chiropractic’s Davenport campus earned a top score of 100 with regard to loan repayment rates (a common measurement of student financial success after graduation) and earned a score of 99 for occupational earnings power (a measure which expresses the average market value of the career for which the college prepared its graduates).

According to MarketWatch.com, Palmer also is the fourth top college “with highest value added with respect to loan repayment.”

The Brookings’ study, titled “Beyond College Rankings: A Value-Added Approach to Assessing Two- and Four-Year Schools,” was authored by Jonathan Rothwell and Siddharth Kulkarni.

Palmer’s official student-loan repayment rate is 96.5 percent. The average rate for chiropractic colleges is 93 percent, and the national average for all college students is 86.3 percent.

The Brookings’ research goes beyond typical college rankings to look at factors like loan repayment and earning power.

According to the study, the “five key college quality factors [that] are strongly associated with more successful economic outcomes for alumni in terms of salary, occupational earnings power and loan repayment” are: curriculum value, alumni skills, STEM orientation, and completion rates.

Source: Palmer College of Chiropractic