Bring transparency  to higher education

The hopes and dreams of high school seniors are at their peak as they walk across the stage and receive their high school diploma. But what lies ahead? For many, the option is college. Most parents nowadays have raised their children to just know that the next step is college. But, in contrast, as our college graduates are graduating, their outlook on life is vastly different than that of the college freshman that they were four years ago. This demonstrates the need for accountability and transparency in higher education. 

  We often refer to colleges as the ?Ivory Tower,? because they don?t reflect the real world. Students enter college with an excited anticipation of the next four years, only to be disappointed and surprised by the harsh reality of college and the information that isn?t disclosed to all students. There are so many questions that parents and students need to think about when they are choosing the school they wish to attend.

  We are used to having admissions counselors report graduation rates, job placement information, and the number of students who receive financial aid. There are many different things to use to evaluate colleges, but usually schools don?t report this information the same way, which makes it difficult to compare public and private schools. The first real effort we have to address this problem is CollegeMeasures.org, ?a joint venture between the American Institute for Research (AIR) and Matrix Knowledge Group.? This website is very user-friendly. For each school, you are able to see the performance scorecard and profile information.

Vicki Murray, Ph.D, has authored the publication titled ?10 Questions State Legislators Should Ask About Higher Education.? This publication suggests that they think about how prepared students are for college, how accessible is a college education, how is higher education financed, what is the price of a college education, and how affordable is it?

  While these are questions that Dr. Murray suggests state Legislators discuss, it is also important for parents and students to pay attention to the answers to these questions. College will be the most exciting and trying period of time for a person, but in order to know that you have made the correct choice for you and your family there are many different factors to consider. The CollegeMeasures.org website and the questions raised in Dr. Murray?s publication are two very useful items to help in making a decision about what college to attend.

  As taxpayers, we all know that our tax dollars support our state universities, and through the Iowa Tuition Grant, we also support private colleges and universities. So for Iowa it is important that we bring more transparency to higher education. This will allow for more accountability and hopefully help remove the notion of the ?Ivory Tower? of education that exists today. 

  The views expressed in this column are those of author Jennifer L. Crull, an information technology specialist with the Public Interest Institute, and not necessarily those of the Public Interest Institute of Mount Pleasant.