In early June, Miami University joined 12 other universities in posting cost and performance measures online for potential students and university administrations to peruse.
The move was coordinated through the University System of Ohio, a network of public colleges in the state established as part of Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut's higher education plan.
"This is something the universities decided to do together," Miami President David Hodge said. "From the beginning, public universities in Ohio have really tried to engage the Chancellor, the Governor and the legislature about building a strong system (of higher education) in Ohio ... Thus did not just come out of the blue."
The Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA), which Ohio schools agreed to use to report statistics, is already in use by more than 250 universities nationwide. As part of the VSA, universities have to report price, financial aid, degree programs, rates of retention and graduation and safety information.
Universities also have to administer two assessments to measure student satisfaction and learning outcomes. Although the National Survey of Student Engagement is used to measure the latter, there is some disagreement among universities of how to measure learning outcomes.
Hodge said the discussion about how to measure learning outcomes is a challenge and there is active conversation about that on campus and among universities in the state.
"What makes our grads as capable as they are is not something that could be measured (with a standardized test) ... (but) we may need to do it," Hodge said.
Currently, there is no required assessment for learning outcomes, according to information from the Ohio Board of Regents.
Hodge said the information that will be made available on the Web site is information that is already provided by the university, but that isn't packaged as neatly.
Ultimately, Hodge said the VSA will help strengthen the universities involved.
"(The VSA) will help identify the things we need to work on," he said.
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One way the reporting system could help is to allow students to compare costs of institutions. Hodge said that while Miami's tuition is among the highest in the state, the average cost of attendance is in the middle compared to other public universities because students finish sooner. He said that doesn't even take into account scholarships.
"(This reporting) makes it clearer to people that Miami's in the middle of the pack," Hodge said.
Michael Chaney, spokesperson for the University System, said universities are starting to collect data and that the Web site for reporting should be running within six months with the exception of the learning outcomes data.
"The student outcomes piece may take a little longer, because each school may do it differently," Chaney said.
Chaney said the Web site will be linked through each university's site, as well as the University System site.
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