Participation Agreement
The institution hereby agrees to join the Voluntary System of Accountability and to publicly report the agreed upon data elements within the College Portrait reporting framework on the College Portrait website.
As a VSA participant, the institution agrees to abide by the following conditions, reporting requirements, and timelines.
Display of College Portrait
1) The institution will create its College Portrait using the tools and specifications provided without altering its form or content.
2) The institution will include the VSA/College Portrait logo on the institution’s home page or another appropriate page (e.g., admissions page) that is regularly visited by prospective students and not more than one or two clicks off the institution’s home page. An active link will be maintained from the logo directly to its College Portrait.
Reporting of Student/Family (Consumer) Information
3) Report data that is available through the Common Data Set (CDS) and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) within three months of becoming a VSA participant.
4) Link to supplemental information as required by the VSA program including, but not limited to: the institution’s home page, admissions contact information, out-of-state tuition costs, listings of undergraduate, and graduate degree programs, and the Clery Act Report on campus crime statistics within three months of becoming a VSA participant.
5) Add text descriptions of institution’s mission, the campus community, and campus safety. Select information that will be linked to the “campus community” buttons. Link to supplemental institutional data as desired by using the “More Information” buttons.
Measurement and Reporting of Undergraduate Success and Progress Rates
6) Utilize the National Student Clearinghouse StudentTracker tool to report the Student Success and Progress Rate data within one year of becoming a VSA participant.
7) If the institution has not been submitting enrollment and graduation data to the Clearinghouse, submit back-files from Fall 2001 to the present within a time frame that allows the reporting of the Success & Progress Rate within one year.
Net Price Estimator
8) Include
a link on College Portrait to a net
price estimator within 6 months of becoming a VSA participant. The net price estimator can be the VSA
College Cost Calculator provided as part of the College Portrait, the
Future Plans of Bachelor’s Degree Recipients
9) Compile data for this data element in one of two ways:
a) Administer a common survey question to graduating seniors as a stand-along item, incorporated into the application for degree process, added to an existing senior exit or employment survey, or through another appropriate method. (The exact question is available by contacting the VSA administrators)
b) Report data from the College Senior Survey (CSS), Question 24. The CSS is a national survey administered by Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) at the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA - http://www.heri.ucla.edu/cirpoverview.php.
10) Report either survey results on the College Portrait no later than two years after becoming a VSA participant and update results annually
11) Provide a link to information on the survey question administration, sample, and response rate.
Measurement and Reporting of Student Experiences and Perceptions
12) Link to institution-specific data on the student experience within three months.
13) Administer one of four instruments to a random sample of seniors:
a) College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ) - http://cseq.iub.edu/cseq_generalinfo.cfm.
b) College Senior Survey (CSS) - http://www.heri.ucla.edu/cirpoverview.php.
c) National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) - http://nsse.iub.edu/html/vsa.cfm
d)
14) Report the survey results on the College Portrait no later than three years after becoming a VSA participant and update results at least every three years.
15) Provide a link to information on the survey administration, sample, and response rate.
Measurement and Reporting of Student Learning Outcomes
16) Link to institution-specific learning outcomes data within three months. The data reported may include, but is not limited to, reports on program assessments, employer satisfaction with graduates, licensing exam pass rates, etc.
17) Participate in the VSA pilot project to measure student learning outcomes by selecting one of three tests to measure student learning gains.
a) Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) – two modules: critical thinking and writing essay - http://www.act.org/caap/.
b) Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) – including performance task, analytic writing task - http://www.cae.org/content/pro_collegiate.htm.
c) ETS Proficiency Profile (formerly known as MAPP) – two sub scores of the test: critical thinking and written communication - http://www.ets.org/. Either the Standard or the Abbreviated form can be used.
18) Administer the selected test to random samples of first-time freshmen and seniors who entered the institution as freshmen. (Based on their student population, institutions may alternatively elect to measure student learning gains for incoming transfer students and seniors who entered as transfers) The institution will follow the guidelines of the test maker in selecting the sample.
19) Report the results of the pilot project on the College Portrait no more than four years after becoming a VSA participant and update results at least every three years
20) Provide a link to information on the test administration, sample, and response rate.
Conditions of Participation
21) Beginning in January 2010, the VSA is funded through annual dues paid by participating institutions. The dues amounts are grouped according to the average full-time equivalent (FTE) student enrollment at the institution. The institution agrees to remit payment of the participation dues each year in a timely manner. The complete dues schedule can be found at: http://www.voluntarysystem.org/docs/vsa/VSA_Dues_Schedule_2010.pdf
22) The institution acknowledges that it is receiving value in the form of access to and use of the College Portrait application, the VSA/College Portrait logo, the VSA College Cost Calculator, College Portrait administrative tools and documentation, and in return VSA is receiving value in the form of the institution’s participation and compliance with this agreement.
23) An institution may withdraw from VSA participation at any time if it chooses not to report the data elements outlined in the VSA Reporting Timetable for College Portrait Data Elements included as Attachment 1 in this document. After formal notification to the VSA Executive Director, the institution will be removed from the VSA participation list and the institution's College Portrait from the College Portrait website. The institution will remove the VSA/College Portrait logo from the institution’s website.
24) When a senior official of a participating institution learns that their institution fails to meet the conditions outlined in this document as determined by the VSA Oversight Board and does not bring the institution into compliance within three months the institution will be removed from the VSA participation list and its College Portrait from the College Portrait website. The institution will remove the VSA/College Portrait logo from the institution’s website
25) If an institution is unable to meet the conditions outlined in this document due to unusual or extraordinary circumstances and does not wish to end participation in VSA, the institution may contact the Executive Director, who in turn may petition the VSA Oversight Board for an appropriate remedy. The decision of the VSA Oversight Board will be final.
26) The institution warrants that that it is responsible for the accuracy of the data that appears on its College Portrait.
Additional
Conditions of Using the
27) The use of the VSA College Cost Calculator is optional. If a participating institution uses the VSA College Cost Calculator it agrees to leave intact the warnings that accompany the calculator to the effect that the calculator provides estimates, not guarantees, and students must apply for admission to a specific institution and complete all required applications for financial aid eligibility to receive final and certain aid packages and cost of attendance figures. Further, the institutions electing to use the VSA College Cost Calculator acknowledge that estimates generated by the VSA College Cost Calculator are intended only as a first estimate of potential affordability of the institution to the user and, as such, are to prompt users of the calculator to follow procedures provided by the institution, lenders and the U.S. Department of Education to obtain financial figures on which they can rely.
28) Participation in VSA is a voluntary activity. The institution understands and agrees that AASCU and APLU, their officers, employees, and board members, the VSA Oversight Board officers and members, the College Portrait Support and Development Team, and VSA contractors have supplied VSA as a service to participating institutions and bear no responsibility for any errors of fact that appear on a participating institution's College Portrait or any data errors supplied or entered by the institution. Further, estimates generated by the VSA College Cost Calculator are intended only as a first estimate of potential affordability of the institution to the user and are intended only to prompt the user to follow routes provided by the institution, lenders and the U.S. Department of Education to obtain financial figures on which they can rely.
All of
the above terms and conditions constitute an agreement by and between the
institution and the Association of Public and
Note: In February 2008, the VSA Oversight Board elected to limit VSA participation to 4-year public universities that are members of AASCU or APLU in the short-term. The decision will be revisited at a future date. Expressions of interest in participation from nonmembers should be directed to VSA Executive Director Christine Keller.
ATTACHMENT 1
VSA Reporting Timetable for College Portrait Data Elements
Within 3 Months |
Within 6 Months |
Within 1 Year |
Within 2 Years |
Within 3 Years |
Within 4 Years |
|
Student/Family Info |
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CDS/IPEDS data |
X |
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Supplemental data |
X |
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Text and Links |
X |
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Success/Progress Rate |
X |
|||||
Link to net price estimator |
X |
|||||
Future Plans Survey results |
X |
|||||
Student Experiences & Perceptions |
||||||
Link to institution-specific data |
X |
|||||
Report results of
CSEQ,
|
X |
|||||
Student Learning Outcomes |
||||||
Link to institution-specific data |
X |
|||||
Report results of CAAP, CLA, or ETS Proficiency Profile |
X |
Updated 2/2/2010