‘Paying for College Transparency Initiative’ Launched

The leaders of 10 national higher education associations have launched the Paying for College Transparency Initiative.

Many colleges use substantially different terms to describe the aid they award to students. The initiative seeks to improve “clarity, accuracy, and consistency of student financial aid offers by producing a set of guiding principles and minimal standards to be used when developing aid offers.”

The effort will be led by Peter McPherson, president emeritus of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. There is no timetable for the project, he said.

The following are members of the task force:

• Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education
• Angel Pérez, CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling
• Justin Draeger, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
• Walter Bumphus, president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges
• Mildred García, president and CEO of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities
• Barbara Snyder, president of the Association of American Universities
• Mark Becker, president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities
• Barbara Mistick, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
• Rebecca Martin, executive director of the National Association of System Heads
• Robert Anderson, president of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association