Career Services’ Hero Moment
August 6, 2025 | Written by Theresa Kouo
Turning HB 1’s Accountability Challenge Into Opportunity
Welcome back to Kinetic Signals, a new content series from Kinetic West where we track the turning points reshaping opportunity, equity, and systems change.
The federal education landscape is rapidly evolving.
In this series, we're spotlighting those best positioned to adapt and identifying what it will take to meet the moment and deliver meaningful outcomes.
As the realities of U.S. House Bill 1 (HB 1, aka, the One Big Beautiful Bill) start to sink in, one provision has caught our attention: institutional accountability measures as a condition for higher-ed institutions to receive federal aid. In plain terms, colleges and universities must now prove that their graduates earn more than peers without degrees—or risk losing access to new federal student loans.
Set aside for a moment that career preparation isn’t the singular purpose of higher education. Sure, this could catalyze a much-needed reset of the cost model: public confidence is low, debt burdens are high, and graduates in some fields simply can’t justify sticker price. But in an era when entry-level jobs are vanishing and the bar for “good outcomes” is rising, this feels like a tall order—one that will require more resources, not fewer. In the short term, career services—a department often under-resourced—will bear the brunt of demonstrating that a degree still pays off.
What We See
Career services offices are the first line of defense under HB 1’s new rules, and they face five immediate pressures:
Facilitating work-based learning (WBL) at scale.
To hit outcome targets, institutions will need deeper employer partnerships offering internships, apprenticeships, co-ops and other WBL pipelines. That requires staff who can cultivate—and continually steward—relationships across industries and geographies.Fragmentation risks between silos.
Many four-year schools house separate career teams by discipline (engineering vs. arts, for instance). Without a unified strategy, they’ll compete for the same employer attention—confusing partners and undercutting each other’s reach.A state coordination vacuum.
To prevent a free-for-all among institutions jockeying for internship slots, some states may step in to broker relationships. But heavy bureaucracy can slow timelines and leave career services scrambling.Elevated demand for career navigation & advising.
With 840+ distinct occupations today—and counting—students need personalized guidance on mapping degree programs to career pathways. That elevates the importance of skilled advisors armed with robust labor-market data.An opening for AI-driven scale.
In resource-constrained offices, intelligent agents can automate resume-screening, initial employer matching, and basic advising triage—freeing counselors to focus on high-touch coaching that moves the needle.
What It Could Mean
In practice, these shifts create a high-stakes balancing act for career services:
If done well: Career teams become strategic conveners—curating high-quality WBL experiences that level the playing field for students lacking network access, and positioning the institution as a reliable source of job-ready talent.
If done poorly: Under-resourced offices drown in data crunching and compliance reporting, fragment internally, and fail to scale employer engagement—putting entire programs at risk of losing federal loan eligibility.
Room to Act
Career services can transform from a compliance checkpoint into an institutional hero by:
Investing strategically in WBL pipelines.
Map target industries, designate dedicated employer-relations roles, and launch “early-access” cohorts that build momentum—and measurable outcomes—year over year.Consolidating career-services structures.
Break down departmental silos with a unified office or shared back-office functions, presenting a single, coherent “one-university” brand to employers.Embracing AI & data analytics.
Deploy intelligent tools for early-warning flags on at-risk graduates, automated employer matching, and streamlined outcome tracking—so staff can spend more time on relationship-building.Forging state-level collaboratives.
Partner with workforce agencies and peer institutions to coordinate internship placements, share outcome data, and amplify collective bargaining power with employers.Elevating career navigation.
Integrate digital platforms that help students explore evolving occupations, assess skills gaps, and plan multi-stage career journeys—ensuring advising stays relevant in a complex labor market.
By stepping up now, career services can not only safeguard their institution’s access to federal aid but also prove that a college degree remains a powerful springboard to stronger financial futures.
Further Reading:
Internships and Beyond: Strengthening Career Value Across Diverse Models of Work-Based Learning | Strada Education Foundation
AI in Career Services: Getting Started | National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)
Diversifying Partnerships for Success in Work-Based Learning | National Governors Association
