That same sentiment has been expressed loud and clear in focus groups with prospective students and their parents, on Capitol Hill, and in the Education Department. To help higher education consumers get the information they need to make the best college selection, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities has spent the past year developing U-CAN (the University and College Accountability Network).

When the free online resource goes live on Sept. 16, 2007, consumers will have access to quantitative and qualitative information on price, tuition trends, financial aid packages, loan debt, admissions and enrollment, student diversity, and more for hundreds of private colleges and universities. The institutional profiles provided on U-CAN (www.ucan-network.org) will report this information in a consumer-friendly, uniformed format.

Each profile will also include more than two dozen targeted hyperlinks to information found on the institution’s web site, including study abroad opportunities, internships programs, campus extracurricular activities, academics, and more. U-CAN will not rank institutions or include reputational surveys. The web site’s content and format are driven by the comments of focus group paticipants. Schools that have signed up include Ivy League universities, liberal arts colleges, historically black colleges and universities, women’s colleges, and undergraduate schools of technology and engineering, among others.

Through U-CAN, and similar initiatives currently being developed by other associations, higher education is working to enhance its transparency and accountability to the marketplace.