BILL REQ. #:  H-1083.1 

Read first time 01/27/09.   Referred to Committee on Higher Education.

     AN ACT Relating to a consumer report card with information about institutions of higher education; and adding a new section to chapter 28B.10 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 28B.10 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The state and regional universities and The Evergreen State College, together with the higher education coordinating board and the education data center, shall develop a consumer report card designed to provide prospective students and their families with easily accessible, basic, and comparable information about the individual institutions of higher education. The consumer report card shall include the following information displayed in a standard, user-friendly format:
     (a) Student body data, including total number of students, gender, race, ethnicity, average age, geographic origin, and enrollment status;
     (b) Retention and graduation rates;
     (c) Cost of attendance for resident and nonresident and undergraduate and graduate students;
     (d) Need-based financial aid awarded, in terms of scholarships, grants, and loans;
     (e) Freshman and transfer student admission statistics, including information regarding test scores, grade point average, number of applicants, number accepted, and number enrolled;
     (f) Number of degrees conferred by subject, program, or department;
     (g) Faculty to student ratio;
     (h) Faculty data, including total number of full-time and part-time faculty, degrees held, gender, race, and ethnicity;
     (i) From the Carnegie classifications of institutions of higher education, the basic type, size and setting, enrollment profile, undergraduate profile, undergraduate instructional program, and graduate instructional program;
     (j) On-campus housing data; and
     (k) Campus safety.
     (2) Development of the consumer report card shall be completed and a prototype submitted by the higher education coordinating board to the higher education committees of the house of representatives and the senate by December 15, 2009. By June 30, 2010, each institution of higher education shall make its consumer report card available to the public and shall update the information annually thereafter.
     (3) In lieu of participating in the development and display of the consumer report card, an institution of higher education may instead post by December 15, 2009, and commit to annually update a college portrait as part of the voluntary system of accountability sponsored by the American association of state colleges and universities and the national association of state universities and land grant colleges. The higher education coordinating board and the education data center shall be excused from participating in the development of the consumer report card only if all of the state and regional universities and The Evergreen State College post college portraits by December 15, 2009, and commit to their annual update. By December 15, 2009, the higher education coordinating board shall report to the higher education committees of the house of representatives and the senate as to whether and which institutions of higher education chose to post a college portrait and commit to its annual update.