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U-CAN, a voluntary consumer information initiative coordinated by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU), has grown to 711 institutions, including Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).
NAICU introduced U-CAN on Sept. 26, 2007, with participation from 600 private colleges and universities. Since then, the number of participating institutions has grown by 19 percent. Currently, NAICU has 953 member schools, which enroll 85 percent of all students attending private colleges and universities in the U.S.
With a design driven by consumer focus groups, the U-CAN site, a free resource, has been lauded by students, parents, college admissions counselors and policymakers for its rich and consumer-relevant information, and colorful, user-friendly format. Since U-CAN went live, more than 358,000 users have visited the site, viewing more than 850,000 pages.
IIT’s U-CAN page includes detailed information about the university, including the average ACT scores and grade point averages of the incoming freshman class, the number of degrees awarded in the last year, enrollment information, student to faculty ratios, campus safety reports, links to useful IIT web pages and more.
“U-CAN allows us to showcase IIT through a valued web source at a time when the demand for accurate, up-to-the-minute information is constantly growing,” said Mary Ann Rowan, IIT’s vice president for enrollment management. “We are able to share the success of our students and academic programs, the expertise of our faculty, the organizations and activities we offer and so much more.”
In mid-September of this year, NAICU will launch U-CAN "2.0,″ improving on a college search tool already noted for providing free, objective, comparable data on the factors that matter most to consumers: student costs broken out by category, tuition trends, admission and graduation rates, average student aid packages, average debt at graduation and more.
Responding to user comments and focus groups of parents and students, U-CAN “2.0” will also provide guidance on how to prepare academically and financially for college, find the right fit and navigate the admissions and financial aid processes. Additionally, NAICU is exploring the development and addition of a new element that would allow consumers to see how colleges are spending their tuition dollars.
NAICU serves as the unified national voice of independent higher education. With more than 1,000 member institutions and associations nationwide, NAICU reflects the diversity of private, nonprofit higher education in the United States. They include traditional liberal arts colleges, major research universities, church- and faith-related institutions, historically black colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, single-sex colleges, two-year colleges, and schools of law, medicine, engineering, business, art, and other professions.
Founded in 1890, IIT (iit.edu) is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 7,300 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT’s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment.
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