Students, particularly low-income students, aren’t really thinking about college rankings when choosing higher education options, according to a new brief released by the American Council on Education.
The study comes as the Obama administration works on its highly anticipated college rating system, which ACE says will become a de facto ranking system. Fewer than 25 percent of students said college rankings were “very important” when it comes to choosing a college. For low-income students, location is more important.
The findings of this survey fly in the face of the proposed motivation for the Education Department’s rating system: to help open the doors to higher education to those from lower income backgrounds by providing key information about colleges that provide the best value for the money.
For example, here what has been released so far on the structure of the forthcoming ED ratings:
The new ratings system has not been developed yet and we will work with all stakeholders— including students and families, states, colleges and universities, and higher education experts– to identify those metrics that will help consumers compare colleges based on their affordability and value, such as:
- Access, such as percentage of students receiving Pell grants
- Affordability, such as net price and loan debt
- Outcomes, such as graduation and transfer rates, earnings of graduates, and completion of advanced degrees
If the reality is that the rankings/ratings mostly matter to the colleges and universities themselves, in addition to students from wealthier backgrounds, then it seems that the government efforts, however much as they might be focused on student needs, are misguided.
For more on the U.S. Education Department’s perspective on its forthcoming ratings system, please visit: http://www.ed.gov/college-affordability/college-ratings-and-paying-performance
For the full pdf version of the ACE report, please visit: http://bit.ly/1kJjGlj.
For a more balanced perspective, please see: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/20/new-report-says-obama-ratings-proposal-will-lead-same-problems-rankings
