Prospective college students and their parents can now head to one website to rank the educational value of the nation's colleges and universities. Vote in the NEWS POLL. See CHART OF LOCAL SCHOOLS.
Prospective college students and their parents can now head to one website to rank the educational value of the nation's colleges and universities.
The U.S. Department of Education today launched the College Scorecard as President Barack Obama promised in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.
The site provides families with a snapshot of the average student's costs and typical borrowing alongside graduation and loan default rates. It will eventually provide employment data.
Out of the region's 14 colleges, universities and community colleges, Muhlenberg College and DeSales University topped the list with an average price of $32,692 and $26,494 after grants and scholarships in 2010-11.
Moravian and Lafayette colleges weren't far behind at $26,107 and $25,963. Bethlehem's Lehigh University round out the top five with a cost of $24,510. Those costs are much lower than the listed price of an education at the schools, which can leave some families with a serious case of sticker shock.
Obama pushed the scorecard as a way to hold colleges accountable for cost, value and quality. The interactive website provides information on college costs, including median monthly loan payments, in an easy-to-read format.
"I think it helps families understand the right financial fit for them," said Ken Huus, Moravian's vice president for enrollment.
So, a student interested in Moravian can quickly see that
families typically borrow $23,000 in federal loans. Paid back over 10 years that
means a monthly payment of about $264.
Huus thinks the financial tools will help families more easily see beyond the listed tuition and board -- $41,341 in 2010-11 -- to what it will really mean for their budget after aid.
"I think a family might go, 'Oh, we can do that,'" Huus said.
Many officials at Lehigh Valley higher education institutions said the site's a good tool to help families evaluate their college options.
"This is a clean crisp site that will help students and parents understand these common data elements," said Robert Massa, Lafayette's vice president for communications.
Northampton Community College thinks the motivation for the scorecard is a good one but the college noted its current listing on the site includes misleading information.
The net price of NCC is listed at $6,094, which is the typical out-of-county tuition before financial aid. The typical NCC in-county student pays $3,750 before financial aid, NCC spokeswoman Heidi Butler said. And tuition only increased 7 percent from 2007-09, not 27 percent.
"It doesn't reflect what most of our students pay," Butler said.
Officials also cautioned against relying too heavily on the scorecard or assuming your family is considered average.
"Use them as guideposts, not absolutes," Huus said.
Muhlenberg's Dean of Admissions Christopher Hooker-Haring doesn't dispute the data on the scorecard but he thinks a key thing is missing: what you do after graduation.
"I understand the desire to provide more information," he said. "But if the information is mostly about cost, you are missing the most important part of the equation, which is about the actual learning that takes place and where that learning experience leads after graduation."
All colleges interviewed noted they conduct career surveys
and make that data readily available, but it wasn't included on the scorecard.
Massa said including career information will require standardizing how that data is reported.
The scorecard can't tell a student if the school is a good fit in terms of needs and interests, something Huus said he often discusses with families. Butler agrees the scorecard can't track intangibles important in college selection.
"Those are factors like quality of instruction and campus life," Butler said. "They are hard to quantify, but very important to students."
DeSales and Lehigh universities declined comment Wednesday afternoon saying they need time to review the scorecard.
DeSales emphasized the text at the bottom of the scorecard that indicates students should contact the school they're interested in since the numbers may not apply to all students.
Centenary College is in the process of analyzing all that is a part of Centenary's scorecard for accuracy and for a format that is user friendly, spokeswoman Annamaria Lalevee said.