Information for Institutions

Institutions interested in signing up to participate in U-CAN are invited to use our on-line signup form. 

Participating institutions: Click here to enter/update data. 

Here are some of the frequently asked questions (FAQs) for participating institutions about the U-CAN project.  For additional information, or for questions not addressed below, please e-mail us at ucan@naicu.edu

Background on U-CAN
Participation in U-CAN
Entering Data into U-CAN
Visual Design of U-CAN
Questions Regarding U-CAN Elements
Schedule and Rollout 

Background on U-CAN

• Why was the U-CAN initiative developed? Congress and the U.S. Department of Education have called for more consumer information that individuals need to evaluate colleges, a goal that NAICU strongly supports. The University and College Accountability Network (U-CAN) is designed to give, in a common format, prospective students and their families concise, Web-based consumer-friendly information on individual colleges and universities. U-CAN will include significant information identified by policymakers as being important for accountability. Click here for more information.

Participation in U-CAN

• Is participation in U-CAN limited to NAICU member institutions? All accredited, private, not-for-profit higher education institutions are welcome to participate in U-CAN.  We unfortunately are not able to accommodate public colleges and universities.
  
  
• Must we be participating in the Annapolis Group boycott of U.S. News reputational rankings to participate in the U-CAN project? No. While that initiative has been tied to U-CAN in some media coverage, in fact there is no direct connection between the two.
  
  
• What is the cutoff date for participation in U-CAN? There is none. U-CAN will add new participants indefinitely. The initial group of participants was announced at the launch of the project in September, but institutions are invited to sign up at any time (see next item) and then go live with their profile at any time.
  
  
• How does our institution sign up to participate in the U-CAN initiative? You can use the very simple on-line U-CAN participation form.  Participation forms may also be downloaded, completed, then faxed to (202) 835-0003.
  
  
• Is there a related cost? There is no charge or fee for participation in the U-CAN initiative, nor is there a charge for consumers to view profiles.

Entering Data into U-CAN

• Why are there two designated contacts on the U-CAN participation form? Institutions are asked to designate a "Data Contact Person," most likely someone in the office of institutional research with access to institutional reported data such as is in IPEDS or the Common Data Set, and a "Narrative/Web Links Contact Person," most likely an individual in public relations able to coordinate the narrative pieces and provide links to the institution's Web site for the U-CAN template. Both will receive a log-in to the U-CAN data entry system for use in posting and editing institutional information.
  
  
• When will our profile be made public? All profiles completed by participants prior to September 26 went live the morning of the mid-September public launch. Subequently, many additional institutions have "published" their profiles to the U-CAN Web site, and more are adding their profiles daily.  (The on-line list of participating institutions is automatically updated as they go live.)
  
  Institutions control when their profiles become available to the public.  This happens only when they click the "Publish" button at the bottom of the data entry main menu.  We recommend that you wait until your profile is as complete as possible, and you have reviewed the actual display using the preview option, before making your profile publicly available.  Institutions that have signed up to participate in U-CAN, but have not yet completed their profiles, are visible in a "Profiles Coming Soon" list also displayed on the U-CAN Web site.
  
  
• Is there an option to save and edit U-CAN information after it has gone live? Yes. The designated contact individuals will always have access to the U-CAN system, even after the institution's U-CAN profile is live. This feature allows institutions to modify data, and add or update narrative or Web links.
  
  
• How does the system work? Where will the data be stored? Participating institutions enter their profile information into a database stored on the U-CAN server. This information is then used to automatically generate the institutional profiles that are viewed by the public. The profiles can be viewed on-line or downloaded by students and families as a pdf.
  
  
• Can consumers search the U-CAN profiles for subsets of institutions? Search features have been built into the U-CAN Web site that allow users to search for institutions by location, distance from the user's home, and religious affiliation. Based on consumer feedback, we may add additional search features as U-CAN is improved and refined. 
  
  In the separate NAICU member directory (which is also searchable), the U-CAN logo appears next to all participating members' listings.
  
  
• Does U-CAN rank institutions? U-CAN profiles are not meant to rank or rate colleges and universities. Rather, they are a convenient way for students and families to compare institutions using a standard format.
  
  
• Will NAICU edit or verify the data? No, participating institutions are responsible for the accuracy of their own information, just as they are for Common Data Set and Department of Education submittals.

Visual Design of the U-CAN Template

• Can our institution's colors be displayed on the U-CAN template? Though we recognize that an institution's colors are often considered hallmarks of the institution, the U-CAN system is not configured to display custom color palettes.
  
  
• Can our institution distinguish itself by inserting our own graphs or adding additional information to be made visible on the template? U-CAN is unabashedly oriented toward the interests of prospective college students and their families. Toward this end, the common format of the profiles is integral to U-CAN, allowing consumers to compare different institutions side-by-side. In this sense, U-CAN is not so much a tool for marketing the individual college as for providing basic information about institutions. However, the richness and diversity of private colleges and universities has been built into the U-CAN design, and a college can still establish its distinctive nature through the narrative information, and links to the institution's own Web site, that are a key part of its U-CAN profile.

Questions on U-CAN Elements

• How will the U-CAN data be standardized across institutions? Detailed instructions for data elements, including standards for which subset of students and year each element describes, are forthcoming. Instructions are built into each element of the on-line data entry form to guide colleges in providing information consistent with all other participants for the data elements.
  
  
• Our institution has updated figures for the upcoming year. Can we use these figures instead of the ones asked for in the instructions? Since it is important to have comparability across U-CAN profiles, participating institutions are asked to follow the guidelines regarding the specific year for data. When consumers compare U-CAN templates for various institutions, it is critical that they be able to view data from the same year.
  
  
• Do we need to provide a link for every button on the U-CAN template? Institutions are not required to rovide a link for each section of the template, but should note that all buttons will appear even if no information is given. Institutions may wish to provide a link that gives a brief description of why the selected information does not apply or to take users to a temporary page if more information will be available soon.
  
  
• Our institution has a comprehensive fee. We do not break down the price of attendance in the way the "Price of Attendance in 2007-08" chart is broken down. What are our options? You have the option of instead providing brief text that gives the comprehensive fee number and an explanation. This text will appear in place of the "Price of Attendance in 2007-08" graph. In this case, text will also appear below the "Tuition and Fees History" graph reading, "This is a comprehensive fee. See ‘Price of Attendance' for more information."
  
  
• Our institution has more detailed information available on price, net tuition and financial aid than is displayed on the U-CAN template. What are our options? You are encouraged to insert a link to the page on your Web site where this information is available. The "For additional information from our institution, click here" button on the second page of the profile is the appropriate link for this information.
  
  
• Is there an option to display ACT rather than SAT scores? You will have the option to report either your SAT or ACT scores, but not both.  You also may add a brief description in this section, and some institutions have used that text for infomation on the test scores not displayed.

Schedule and Promotion

• How will the U-CAN project be publicized to the public? U-CAN was publicly unveiled on September 26 at a telephone news conference with national and regional journalists.  The project also is being promoted through a nationwide series of radio interviews with college presidents; local public relations efforts by participating institutions; direct mailings to college and high school counselors; advertising on Google and Yahoo; and through a presence on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Wikipedia.  Additional promotional activities are also being explored.
  
  
  As they sign up, participating institutions receive a communications toolkit, with important resources for reaching out to local media, policymakers, and other campus constituencies.