Obama鈥檚 new College Scorecard offers detailed comparison of US colleges
The new scorecard project allows prospective students to search for average annual cost, graduation rate and salary after attending a US university, and also collates data on financial aid, debt repayments and SAT requirements.
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Choosing a college in the US, with myriad subjects, funding schemes and course costs, has always been a minefield for prospective students and their parents. Now President Obama鈥檚 administration has released a new聽, saying teenagers will have 鈥渞eliable data on every institution of higher education鈥, although his long-mooted plans for a college rating system have now been scrapped.
The Scorecard has three main features on its summary page 鈥 average annual cost, graduation rate and salary after attending 鈥 and also collates data on financial aid, debt repayments and SAT requirements.
The plans to rate colleges were first announced in 2013 to name and shame colleges with high tuition fees but low graduation rates and employment prospects. 鈥淐olleges that keep their tuition down鈥re the ones that will see their taxpayer funding go up,鈥 he offered at the time. After a barrage of criticism, he climbed down from a government rating system.
In his weekly address shortly after the Scorecard鈥檚 release, President Obama said: 鈥淭here are colleges dedicated to helping students of all backgrounds learn without saddling them with debt.聽 We should hold everybody to that standard.鈥
Critics have suggested that the Scorecard has no information about teaching quality 鈥 unlike the UK鈥檚 National Student Survey 鈥 and that it focuses on earnings over employment statistics. Graduates with careers in public and non-profit organisations inevitably earn less than those in industries such as engineering and the financial sector.
Tuition fees in the US have rocketed in the past 25 years, with so-called 鈥渟ticker鈥 prices 鈥 the advertised cost of university tuition 鈥 rising by 104 per cent in public institutions and 67 per cent in private colleges. However, when grants and scholarships are factored in, the numbers are聽聽per cent, perhaps making it a more practical option for students in the US and abroad.