President Barack Obama launched College Scorecard, a site that provides information about all degree-granting universities and colleges, on Feb. 13 after discussing higher education reform in his State of the Union address.

After typing in the name of a university in the search engine, prospective students are presented with the cost, graduation rate, loan default rate, median borrowing and post-graduation employment information for that school. The data is ranked on a scale from low to high, allowing students to “get the most bang for your educational buck,” as Obama said during his address.

According to the scorecard, the University ranked medium in cost with an average net price of $15,610 per year for in-state undergraduate students. It earned a high graduation rate of 82.5 percent, and its loan default rate was 2.5 percent, 10.9 percent lower than the national average. The University ranked high in median borrowing. The average family borrows $22,125 in Federal loans, therefore paying $254.62 per month over a 10 year span.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and National Student Loan Data System provided the data compiled in these categories.

University spokesman Tom Hardy said the website is a good tool for students and their families making college decisions, but it is simply a new way of presenting information that already exists.

“I don’t know that it’s necessarily better or worse,” he said. “It’s probably close to the same of what’s already out there. But I think it’s always useful or helpful when there’s more information, so in that regard, I suppose it’s serving its purpose.”

Hardy said the University works hard to provide prospective students with this information and said they should use the University resources rather than solely relying on College Scorecard.

“All three campuses have websites devoted to answering questions about everything from tuition and room and board costs to financial aid options,” Hardy said. “So I think it’s good to have a lot of options, and students and their families need to do their homework and see what’s out there and provide themselves with the information that they think is important.”

Students such as Katy Alberts, freshman in FAA, feel enough resources already exist to help students and families make educated college decisions.

“I’ve been okay without it because I was able to get similar information,” Alberts said. “I used different books, websites and information from the University to choose this school.”

Timothy Lewis, senior in LAS, said he will consider using the website when deciding which graduate school to attend.

“I think the College Scorecard can be a useful tool for students looking to pursue higher education, especially if their financial situation is a main deciding factor,” he said. “I would use this in the college search to eliminate schools both before and after acceptance. The cost of college is a huge determining factor for many students, and this could help…determine the highest value option.”

However, Lewis said he still thinks the scorecard is missing key factors.

“One obvious missing thing is the total amount of tuition per university,” he said. “This would help students understand the net price metric a little better. An average percentage of total tuition covered by loans would probably be more intuitive than net price, but I feel like both of those measures should be included.”

Chrissy can be reached at [email protected].