White House Unveils Draft ‘College Scorecard’

February 2, 2012, 5:50 pm

The White House is seeking input from colleges and consumers about a draft “College Scorecard” that would provide prospective students with information about a college’s cost, graduation rate, average debt burden, loan-repayment rate, and job-placement rate. The scorecard, which President Obama announced in a landmark speech at the University of Michigan last week, is designed to make it easier for students to comparison-shop for college.

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22258596

Not perfect but a good start with great intentions. Who can argue against transparency? The problem with the current version is that the data collected are too macro to be entirely useful. Majors, degrees, and mission all matter. For instance, where would one go to search for differences between a BT degree in mechanical engineering technology and a BS in mechanical engineering? What parent or potential student would even know to ask such a question, yet the answer can make a difference for the rest of the student’s career. By the way, why isn’t such a campus-specific dashboard on the web site of every regional or discipline-specific accreditor?
betterschool

I agree with 22258596. This is a diluted version of the requirements now in place for for-profits. Such statistics can now be found on all of their websites, usually under a “Disclosures” link. As was recognized for the for-profits, to be meaningful, all of the metrics need to be program and, if applicable, campus or platform specific. Consumers will not be aided by aggregated statistics and fundamental fairness requires that these requirements apply equally to all institutions of higher education.
judyk31

I think that transparency for prospective students is paramount to a student’s college search! The more information they are equipped with, the better they are at finally making a decision about the choices they make in applying. When they know which colleges have admitted them, they are also better equipped because of this knowledge and many other factors in ultimately deciding which college is the best fit for them!

Judy Zodda, Zodda College Services. http://www.zoddacollegeservices.com (added this as my user name has changed since I first subscribed)!
takapa

I’m waiting for the headline “Colleges Unveil Draft ‘White House Scorecard’”
civilprof

This College scorecard is a pretty bad idea. There are surely many small privates that will look bad on this kind of scorecard. Why must my government interfere with marketing of a complex product, implying that higher education is really a generic commodity that can be reduced to a few cost facts. Imagine if my government put out a Auto Retailer Scorecard that directed everyone to a high volume dealer in Dallas. Or maybe a Restaurant Scorecard that showed $/lb of food that promoted the McDonalds Dollar Menu. Since when is it the role of government to pick winners?