<p>From the New York Times online edition today:</p>
<p>July 4, 2007
Colleges Join Forces on a Web Presence to Let Prospective Students Research and Compare
By ALAN FINDER
Want to know how many of the students admitted to Amherst last year decided to enroll? Curious about what proportion of students at Ohio State graduated within four years? Looking for the real average cost of a year at Dartmouth, when financial aid is taken into account?</p>
<p>The answers can usually be found in a variety of places, from college guides to university Web sites to the annual college rankings by U.S. News and World Report.</p>
<p>But members of Congress and a commission created by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, among others, have said in recent years that American colleges and universities need to provide more and better information to prospective students and their parents, who are doling out ever increasing sums for tuition.</p>
<p>They are about to get a response.</p>
<p>Associations representing private colleges and universities, state universities and large research universities have been working to develop formats and common sets of statistics that would enable easy comparison on everything from class size to what students do after graduation.</p>
<p>The officials admit that a large part of the effort is pre-emptive. We want to do it on a voluntary basis, rather than having it prescribed by Congress or the secretary of education, said David L. Warren, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.</p>
<p>In addition, some presidents of liberal arts colleges have been fomenting a rebellion against the popular U.S. News rankings in part because they object to the way the magazine bases a large part of its rankings on how colleges rate competitors.</p>
<p>The Annapolis Group, a loose association of liberal arts colleges, said at its annual meeting two weeks ago that dozens of college presidents had pledged to stop cooperating with U.S. News and to work with the other organizations to develop an independent system for disseminating information and comparing colleges.</p>
<p>Institutions are ready to act, said Daniel H. Weiss, president of Lafayette College and a member of the Annapolis Group. Were finding collective courage.</p>
<p>The initiative likely to appear first is being put together by organizations representing private colleges and universities, and it could be on the Web as soon as September. </p>
<p>A final version of the proposed common Web site is being circulated among the members of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Council of Independent Colleges; together they represent nearly 1,600 private colleges and universities.</p>
<p>The format, which will be used by every institution that decides to participate, is a colorful, two-page site with charts and graphics. It offers data on the number of students who applied to the college, the number accepted and the number who enrolled. </p>
<p>The colleges will break down undergraduates by gender and ethnic background and give graduation rates within four, five and six years of enrollment. They will also tell the average amount of loans undergraduates carry at graduation, and average net tuition, which is full price minus financial aid and scholarships.</p>
<p>Katherine Will, the president of Gettysburg College and chairwoman of the Annapolis Group, said, Our sense is, were educators if you feel that there is not enough information out there, well, by golly, well give it to you. </p>
<p>I think the key thing that institutions are saying is, compare schools, dont rank them, Dr. Will added.</p>
<p>Brian Kelly, the editor of U.S. News, has said often in recent weeks that he welcomed efforts to come up with new data for students and families. But Mr. Kelly also pointed out that when the magazine began its rankings more than two decades ago, colleges were very reluctant to make public data about their students, finances, faculty and other competitive information. </p>
<p>The associations representing private colleges and universities began planning their initiative more than a year ago. In focus groups, they asked prospective students and parents what they most wanted to know about colleges. </p>
<p>A similar, though more ambitious format is being developed by two national organizations that together represent more than 600 public universities. The boards of the two associations are scheduled to vote on the initiative in November. If approved, the first section of their proposed Web site is likely to be produced by participating universities within a year.</p>
<p>I think there is going to be wide support for this, said Peter McPherson, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.</p>
<p>Their five-page version includes much of the same information proposed by the private colleges, although a prospective student would be able to click a box to estimate his own net cost of attending the institution.</p>
<p>The public universities have proposed going further than the private ones to make public data sought by the federal education secretary that shows whether their students are actually learning and developing in college. </p>
<p>One section would offer data on student engagement, including survey results on matters like students overall satisfaction and participation in group learning experiences. The other part would offer statistics on student learning outcomes, based on standardized tests that measure things like critical thinking and analytic writing. </p>
<p>A third initiative, by the Association of American Universities, which represents 62 research universities, aims to present data on student performance and costs. </p>
<p>Many college presidents said that whatever the final shape of the Web sites, students will soon have a vastly expanded network of information about colleges and universities. </p>
<p>Were all of us very, very excited about this, said William G. Durden, president of Dickinson College. We should have done it a long time ago.</p>
<p>Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company</p>