Dive Summary:
- In an op-ed published Friday by The New York Times, Vassar College President Catharine Hill—whose school was one of the first 10 to adopt the White House's "Financial Aid Shopping Sheet"—raised her concerns with well-intentioned ideas such as President Obama's College Scorecard and the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act proposed by Senators Ron Wyden and Marco Rubio.
- Hill's piece argues that a short-term view of the job market for graduates is not the right path to take for reasons such as a first job not necessarily predicting lifetime earnings, the ever-changing nature of professions, students' decisions to attend graduate school instead of joining the job market and the idea that earnings are not everything.
- In closing, Hill cautioned against giving too much weight to things that can be measured just because they can be measured, as doing so could be misleading to students and families.
From the article:
Greater transparency about higher education is needed for America’s families, as they make decisions about where students will go to college. That is why Vassar accepted the White House’s invitation last year to be among the first 10 colleges and universities to adopt the “Financial Aid Shopping Sheet,” a standardized summary with clear information on tuition and grant aid, as well as likely loan burdens and graduation rates. ...