The College Scorecard is a college-finding system created by the White House which allows students to find colleges that are best suited towards their interests. However, differently from other college-finding systems, the College Scorecard uses three main metrics in order to define the colleges: graduation rate, average annual cost, and salary after attending. This system puts a huge emphasis on annual cost for need-based students, showing the low prices need-based students can pay for even the most expensive and upper-tiered schools. Clearly, one can assume that need-based students are the main target audience for the College Scorecard. They can use this system in order to find schools that will give them the best bang for their buck, and can even show them almost unknown schools that can give them exactly what they’re looking for. However, many studies show that this useful tool isn’t reaching the students that it is intended for. Advantaged students are using this tool for schools that they feel will best fit their needs and wants, and showing them schools that are very low-profile is a great advantage. However, the disadvantaged students that the tool is targeted towards aren’t really using it.
I feel that the College Scoreboard is a great tool for students to find colleges that will best fit them, even showing them schools that they probably have never heard of before. The financial aid tools given are also a great advantage. However, I don’t think it is fair to claim that the College Scoreboard is mainly targeted towards need-based students. It should be targeted for all students. However, if you want to reach out to more need-based students, a better marketing strategy is needed.
