From the moment President Obama called for a federal college ratings system some 18 months ago, colleges and universities have criticized the idea and lobbied against it.
But as the Obama administration charges ahead with the proposal -- officials just last week said they’d have a first draft ready by summer -- some higher education groups that had been critical of the plan are, to some extent, beginning to play ball with the Department of Education.
Several prominent associations are now offering advice, albeit limited, for how the administration should structure a federal ratings system that they believe, and continue to stress, shouldn’t be built in the first place.
That reluctant input on the ratings system is part of the feedback department officials have received over the past several weeks. Public comments on their 17-page “framework” document were due Wednesday, after the department extended the deadline by a day due to a snowstorm on Tuesday that closed federal offices here.
The thrust of the feedback reviewed by Inside Higher Edreiterates the wide-ranging concerns of many in higher education about the ratings system. In spite of their opposition, though, some groups offered the type of specific feedback on the particulars of the ratings plan that department officials have sought.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/02/19/some-college-groups-opposed-obama-ratings-plan-offer-ideas-how-structure-system