Article: Colleges Join Forces on a Web Presence

[LurkNessMonster]

<p>It’s a bit too late to be of benefit to my daughter, but it looks interesting:</p>

<p>

Want to know how many of the students admitted to Amherst last year decided to enroll? Curious about what proportion of students at Ohio State graduated within four years? Looking for the real average cost of a year at Dartmouth, when financial aid is taken into account?</p>

<p>The answers can usually be found in a variety of places, from college guides to university Web sites to the annual college rankings by U.S. News and World Report.</p>

<p>But members of Congress and a commission created by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, among others, have said in recent years that American colleges and universities need to provide more and better information to prospective students and their parents, who are doling out ever increasing sums for tuition.</p>

<p>They are about to get a response.</p>

<p>…</p>

<p>The initiative likely to appear first is being put together by organizations representing private colleges and universities, and it could be on the Web as soon as September. </p>

<p>A final version of the proposed common Web site is being circulated among the members of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Council of Independent Colleges; together they represent nearly 1,600 private colleges and universities.</p>

<p>The format, which will be used by every institution that decides to participate, is a colorful, two-page site with charts and graphics. It offers data on the number of students who applied to the college, the number accepted and the number who enrolled.

</p>

<p>I wonder how the information will be verified. I look forward to seeing the site.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/education/04rankings.html?_r=1&oref=slogin[/url]”>www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/education/04rankings.html?_r=1&oref=slogin</a></p>

[unbelievablem]

<p>is this just going to be a compilation of the common data sets in a single place?</p>