President Barack Obama has announced a new college scorecard to help rate colleges on their value to students.

The scorecard, which will include both public and private higher education institutions, uses Internal Revenue Service data about how much money graduates earn, what percentage of a school’s students can pay back their loans and their debt upon graduation to determine the value of the school.

The news was announced in Obama’s weekly address to the country, released on Saturday. In the video, Obama said his administration is working with partners in the academic, private and non-profit sectors to help families use the new data.

“The status quo serves some colleges and the companies that rank them just fine.  But it doesn’t serve our students well — and that doesn’t serve any of us well,” Obama said in the address. “There are colleges dedicated to helping students of all backgrounds learn without saddling them with debt. We should hold everybody to that standard. Our economic future depends on it.”

Obama said the administration will be continuing to work on the scorecard “in the coming weeks and months” using input from students, parents, counselors and colleges.

The old scorecard relied on someone else deciding which factors should be valued and published, while the new one allows the user to see a broader range of data, according to a fact sheet issued by the White House. The changes to the scorecard can “empower Americans,” according to the fact sheet.

With the release of the new scorecard came the release of data for more than 7,000 institutions, including Syracuse University.

SU’s data showed it is above the national average in average annual cost ($28,912), graduation rate (81 percent) and salary after attending ($56,600). The typical total debt from federal loans is $27,000, according to the data. Fifty-six percent of SU students are white, according to the data, and 27 percent of students have a family income less than $40,000 and receive an income-based federal Pell Grant to help pay for college.

The average SAT score for SU students is between 1560 and 1900, while the average ACT score is between 23 and 28.

Following the release of the new scorecard, some in higher education have voiced their displeasure with the new system.

“Leaders in our government, from the president on down, have benefited from a strong liberal education, both at public and private institutions,” said Association of American Colleges and Universities President Carol Geary Schneider in a statement. “It is unfortunate, therefore, that the president charged the Department of Education to create a Scorecard that, however well-intended, reinforces the message to students that college is primarily about getting in, getting out, and getting a job.”

Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education, said in a statement that while having the data is good, “developing a system of this size and scope is a complicated and nuanced endeavor and the department has done so without any external review.”

In August 2013, Obama spoke at Henninger High School in Syracuse and discussed a plan to rate colleges based on value.

Following Obama’s speech, former Chancellor Nancy Cantor — who has since left SU — said the university would look “very good” in Obama’s proposed system.

“We care deeply about socioeconomic diversity and we have a very substantial financial aid program, and care about who we’re bringing in,” Cantor said following Obama’s speech. “I think we’re going to do fine.”

Kevin Quinn, SU’s senior vice president for public affairs, did not return an email Sunday requesting comment about the new scorecard.

Published on September 12, 2015 at 6:01 am

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