NAICU Washington Update

College Scorecard Website Updated

October 03, 2017

The Trump Administration recently released an updated version of the College Scorecard, a consumer information tool that provides students and their families with data that can be used to evaluate institutions of higher education. An important update to the Scorecard permits students to create a customized search that allows them to compare selected institutions to each other.  Allowing students to create their own comparison groups has been a longtime NAICU policy goal.

The College Scorecard, created during the Obama Administration, compiles existing data – such as net price, graduation rates, and student body diversity – to create institutional profiles.

Although the Scorecard promotes greater transparency for consumers, the tool contains several flaws that may undermine its overall effectiveness.  In particular, although students may select additional variables for purposes of comparison, the updated Scorecard continues to automatically highlight just three metrics for each school: average annual net price, graduation rate, and salary after attending. By continuing to focus primarily on these three factors, the updated Scorecard may still be providing consumers with an incomplete or misleading picture of an institution’s value.
 

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