The California State University has committed to providing data on student learning, engagement, enrollment and graduation as part of a national initiative called the Voluntary System of Accountability and today rolled out its College Portrait and Public Good Web pages that provide unprecedented information about the undergraduate student experience.

Each of the 23 CSU campuses is developing an individualized campus Web-based template that provides information on student characteristics, including age and ethnicity; retention and graduation rates; financial aid; student experiences and perceptions; and student learning outcomes. In addition, the CSU is going beyond the VSA College Portrait template and adding a “public good” contributions page to each campus template. Included is information on total degrees awarded, the contribution of CSU students to the workforce, number of Pell Grant recipients, average net tuition and fees paid per student and the average loan debt for CSU bachelor’s degree recipients.

“As the largest public university system in the country, CSU has been a leader in this voluntary effort to highlight how our students are acquiring critical thinking, information literacy and communications skills,” said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed.  “We have taken it one page further by developing a ‘public good’ contributions page that shows the diversity of our students, the true cost to attend a CSU, and our contribution of graduates to the workforce.”

Related links:

Fresno State’s College Portrait page –
http://www.csufresno.edu/vsa/collegeportrait.pdf

CSU College Portrait and Public Good –
http://www.calstate.edu/PA/news/2008/accountability.shtml
<http://www.calstate.edu/PA/news/2008/accountability.shtml>

Voluntary System of Accountability –
http://www.voluntarysystem.org/index.cfm
<http://www.voluntarysystem.org/index.cfm>