Dive Brief:
- Data collected and published by the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard will now be a part of college search results yielded by Google, EdSurge reports.
- Searching an institution will now display information on graduation rates, loan default rates, cost and average salary for graduates.
- The partnership is part of a full tech blitz from the department to provide students with more information about institutions and postgraduate outcomes.
Dive Insight:
Smaller institutions with niche missions, particularly those serving low-income and underrepresented communities, should be frightened at this development. If a typical Google search can showcase raw data without context of the mission or the benefits of attendance, enrollment at historically black and Hispanic-serving institutions could take a significant hit, particularly from high achieving students who may actually want to attend these institutions.
For Google, it makes tremendous sense as an information provider which allows searchers to compare prices on flights, clothing and other areas of commerce. But for higher education, it is another example of how the federal government is working to reward wealthy, elite institutions with data presentation, while embarrassing other schools with lower marks presented without social, political or economic context.