U-CAN now compare colleges
October 12, 2007
On Sept. 26, LaGrange College became part of the launch of the first national consumer information Web site developed by colleges and universities. The free site allows prospective students and their families to examine concise and accurate information regarding hundreds of schools in a comparable and easily accessible format.
The University and College Accountability Network, or U-CAN, was developed by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in response to a call by consumers, Congress and the U.S. Department of Education for colleges to offer more consumer-friendly information to help prospective students choose the right school.
“We were asked by consumers and the government to come up with a transparent and fair method of providing detailed and easy-to-understand content in a common format,” said President Stuart Gulley, who previously served on the NAICU board of directors. “I believe U-CAN will become one of the valuable tools prospective students can utilize to make their college choices.”
Through focus groups conducted in cities across the nation, prospective students and their parents identified the information they need most to make an informed college choice. Items found in U-CAN include enrollment, student demographics, class size, tuition and fees, financial aid, student life and much more.
The statistics are organized into colorful charts and graphs and are presented in a standard format for each of the schools profiled – and that consistency is an important feature, according to Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs Dr. Sharon Livingston, the person responsible for gathering the data for LaGrange.
“I think everyone knows how statistics can potentially mislead or can be selectively used to your advantage,” Dr. Livingston said. “The NAICU folks were very specific about the data that had to be entered. There was no wiggle room there, so we really are looking at comparing apples to apples.”
In addition to providing specific facts and figures about each college, U-CAN allows colleges to embed a number of links back to their own Web sites within their profiles. This allows students to get some of the individual flavor of a college and, Dr. Livingston said, “It makes it easy for students. Everything is there in one spot – they don’t have to search around all the colleges’ sites to get the information they’re looking for.”
In total, more than 600 schools have pledged to join U-CAN. The U-CAN profile search tool is free and easy to use.
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