Ways to Improve the College Scorecard Website

In this Chronicle of Higher Education article, Amy Schnoebelen reports on critiques of the College Scorecard website (http://collegecost.ed.gov/scorecard/index.aspx),  which President Obama touted in his State of the Union address last month. While the website has been praised for providing lots of information and clear graphics for students applying to college, these were some concerns raised by a number of higher-education experts:

• Costs – The term “net price” may be confusing to high-school students, who might incorrectly assume it’s synonymous with tuition. 

• Graduation rate can be a tricky statistic – Does this pertain only to first-time, full-time students, or does it include students who transfer in or leave and graduate from another college? 

• Loan default rate is not a meaningful statistic for most students. Better to report the percent of students who are actively repaying their loans.

• Median borrowing gives a sense of the distribution of student debt on graduation, but it would be good to know the percent of students who graduate with excessive debt – perhaps more than their first-year salary.

• Employment rate of graduates is important information, but are those jobs the right fit and do they use students’ preparation fully? This statistic needs to be beefed up. 

Critics also suggested three additions to the website: (a) a side-by-side comparison tool to make it easier to compare one college to another; (b) more information on the diversity of the student population; and (c) contact information for the college, including the financial-aid office.

“5 Experts Give the College Scorecard a Barely Passing Grade” by Ann Schnoebelen in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Mar. 1, 2013 (Vol. LIX, #25, p. A6), e-link for subscribers

From the Marshall Memo #475