Why are we here?
We created this website for you, to provide data, not marketing fluff, to help YOU choose a reputable college program that matches your personal and professional goals. As an adult learner, you want to be well informed before you choose an institution. Many adults have already had their share of detours and false starts. Our goal is to provide you with the data you need to select a college best suited to help you earn your degree in the distance education* setting that works with your busy schedule.
*distance education encompasses online, hybrid, competency-based and other flexible learning formats.
Where does all this data come from?
Partner institutions provide the data to the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET), which acts as the third-party quality assurance reviewer of that data. Once the data has been reviewed, WCET posts it to this website for you, the adult learner.
So, what makes this different from all of the other college search sites out there?
- We provide program-level learning outcomes (aka what you’ll be expected to learn in your program of study), measures of those learning outcomes, and how well recent students have performed. This type of data is rarely shared publicly, but our partner institutions chose (completely voluntarily!) to share it with you, publicly on the web. We suggest you try finding learning outcomes data on other search sites or even on institutional sites. You will be surprised at what you don’t find.
- We will never ask for your personal information – either before or after you view our data. Even our ‘Tell Us What You Think’ feature can be submitted completely anonymously. So, unlike many of the other search sites, we are not out to buy or sell your information for recruitment or other purposes.
- All of the data on this site goes through a third-party quality assurance review by WCET. Other sites post data without any review by an outside party. Again, our institutions voluntarily submit to this review so you’ll have access to quality data as you make your college choice.
Why are there so few institutions listed on this site?
We are working on recruiting more! But, as we’ve mentioned before, this is a voluntary effort that our institutions join, which is called the Transparency by Design Initiative. Membership in the initiative and subsequent publication of data on this website are open to all regionally-accredited institutions of higher education who serve adult students with at least some programs offered at a distance (which includes online, hybrid, competency-based and flexible learning options). This means that there are many institutions eligible to join – from state universities to community colleges to non- and for-profit private institutions!
So, what’s in it for member institutions?
We won’t lie – if you enroll in one of our institutions, it does mean more tuition dollars for one of our schools. But, since our primary goal is to help you find a way to get the education you need, we want to make sure you make a well-informed choice. This site offers objective data to help you do just that.
Where can you go if you have more questions?
Visit our Facebook page and write on our wall, send us a tweet @college4adults or drop us a comment on the Horizons Blog. You can also use the Tell Us What You Think form to connect with us – just remember, we can’t write you back without an email. We promise not to give it to anyone else for any other purposes. We’ll do our best to find you an answer. We also love to hear about the experiences of adult learners!
Learn more about the history of the Transparency by Design initiative and the College Choices for Adults website.
