President Obama scrapped his long proposed college rating system in favor of a “scorecard” system unveiled in September.
The College Scorecard details what graduates earn, how much student debt they carry and more. Just type in a college or university name to see a snapshot of how it compares to other schools regionally and nationally.
The news caught higher ed leaders by surprise, leaving some dismayed to be left out of the planning process.
“Developing a system of this size and scope is a complicated and nuanced endeavor and [the Department of Education] has done so without any external review,” says ACE President Molly Corbett Broad. Though rich in data, the scorecard may not contain information that will be useful to students, she adds.
NAICU President David Warren cautions that the data must be accurate.
“We are currently engaged in conversations with our member institutions and are hearing concerns about certain data elements included in their profiles, especially the salary information,” he says, “which doesn’t take into account such variables as regional economic differences, or differences in the earnings potential for specific majors.”—Tim Goral
