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ECONOMIC REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

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crucial role in encouraging students to make informed decisions about<br />

enrolling in higher education and choosing the best college for their needs.<br />

At the same time, evidence suggests that, while prospective students<br />

can benefit from improved information, procedural complexities may<br />

prevent some individuals from using the information and other resources<br />

available to them. In particular, as described above, the complexity of the<br />

FAFSA has created barriers to efficiency and equity in the distribution of<br />

student financial aid, deterring many students who would benefit from<br />

aid from applying. It follows that reducing this complexity should help<br />

students access Federal student aid to better invest in their education, and<br />

the research supports this conclusion. In an experiment that provided<br />

low-income families with personalized aid eligibility information and, in<br />

some cases, assistance completing the FAFSA, only families who got both<br />

assistance and information were more likely to see the benefits of greater<br />

financial aid and college enrollment (Bettinger et al. 2012). This section<br />

details key Administration initiatives to improve information and reduce<br />

procedural complexities for students.<br />

College Scorecard<br />

In 2015, the Department of Education launched the redesigned<br />

College Scorecard to help empower Americans to select colleges based on<br />

what matters most to them. The online Scorecard provides reliable, unbiased,<br />

comprehensive, and nationally comparable data on college outcomes for all<br />

institutions. These outcomes include former students’ earnings, student debt<br />

for graduates, and debt repayment rates; the data are also broken down by<br />

demographic group, which allow students to assess how well colleges are<br />

serving similar students to themselves before deciding where to apply and<br />

attend. Figure 5-18 highlights the importance of these data, showing the<br />

large variation in outcomes at two- and four-year colleges. CEA’s technical<br />

report on using Federal data to measure and improve the performance of<br />

U.S. institutions of higher education provides more information about the<br />

Scorecard, including a guide to the available measures, methods for assessing<br />

college quality, and data-driven lessons for performance management<br />

(CEA 2015c).<br />

Within its first year, the College Scorecard has reached students and<br />

families across the country (Figure 5-19), and students now have multiple<br />

opportunities to use Scorecard to make better decisions. For example, the<br />

College Scorecard data will be clearly featured in the hundreds of millions<br />

of Google searches related to colleges and universities taking place in<br />

the United States each year, and other companies like College Board are<br />

integrating the data into their college application products and programs.<br />

332 | Chapter 5

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