Improving the College Scorecard: Using Student Feedback to Create an Effective Disclosure

The Center for American Progress (CAP) recently issued the report Improving the College Scorecard: Using Student Feedback to Create an Effective Disclosure. The report presents findings from a series of consumer focus groups conducted with high school students to evaluate two simple, one-page college disclosures—one developed by the Obama Administration (the College Scorecard) and one developed by CAP—concerning college costs, graduation rates, student debt, and graduate earning potential. Although there is widespread agreement that students and families need better information to make an informed decision as to the best school for them, the report argues that rigorous consumer testing of disclosures is necessary to ensure the disclosures are effective for their intended audience. For example, based on its initial student focus group feedback, CAP found that the overall purpose of the Administration’s and CAP’s simple, one page college scorecard disclosures were poorly understand by high school focus group participants, thus indicating needed improvements to the design of currently proposed disclosures. In addition to recommending broadly that the federal government invest in rigorous consumer testing of disclosures, the report provides the following more specific observations and recommendations based on the focus groups:

• Attention should be paid to the use and explanation of certain terms, and these terms should be field tested to determine their ease of being understood. Students expressed a strong desire for consistency in language across the entire college application process, including the terms “net price,” “out-of-pocket,” “living expenses” and “total cost of attendance.”


• Students desired more customization to reflect their family’s personal financial situation. Since only averages were included on the disclosures, students saw this information as only somewhat useful.


• Student debt measured as a repayment or default rate was not meaningful to students interviewed. While average debt loads were more so, what students most strongly responded to was average monthly repayment figures and average number of years in repayment.


• An emphasis on four-year graduation rates has a bigger impact on students’ decision- making process than six-year graduation rates. Students desire to and assume they will finish in four years, not six.


• Students want more information about employment prospects by major to see how graduates fare in the job market.