What's New?

We're pleased to announce a new enhancement to the U-CAN site. The home page now includes a box highlighting newly added profiles and those with recent updates.

The new feature is the result of user comments - one of several that we hope to implement in the near future. U-CAN is designed to be responsive to consumer needs, so all comments are considered as we make improvements.

Have an idea that would make U-CAN better? Leave a comment here, or send a note to ucan@naicu.edu.

U-CAN Pops Up in USA Today, Washington Times

A front-page Life section story ("Beyond rankings: A new way to look for a college") in today's USA Today refers to U-CAN, noting that more than 600 private institutions have signed up to participate since NAICU launched the web site in September. The article, which looks at the use of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) for institutional self-assessment, reports that "in a bid to circumvent federal oversight," NAICU and other higher ed groups have "developed or are developing web sites through which consumers can get information, including NSSE scores in some cases, in easy-to-compare formats."

The story comes a week after the Washington Times published a letter from NAICU President David Warren that describes how U-CAN helps students and parents make the best college choice.

U-CAN Needs You for YouTube!

Now that we’re comfortably past the launch and initial roll-out, we’re ramping up our Web outreach strategy. A key component is a YouTube channel that showcases videos about U-CAN, college admissions, and stories from students about the college search process, all from the student perspective.

Know of a video lurking out there that would be perfect to highlight? Have some students interested in creating and submitting a video, and having it featured on our site? Extra points for humorous or otherwise entertaining spots. Let us know – the more content we can post, the better. Remember - videos need to be of general interest and not self-promotional.

We’ve created a basic channel and posted a few videos to get started, but need more. Click here to see the UCAN-Network YouTube channel.

U-CAN Celebrates First Month, Continues to Grow

In the month since U-CAN was released publicly, the statistics show that the consumer information project is thriving and reaching a wide audience. The early success is only expected to grow as we enter the second stage of the roll-out, which includes targeted outreach to high school college counselors, radio talk show interviews nationally, and Facebook and YouTube campaigns aimed directly at students.

Here's a snapshot of U-CAN stats since the launch on September 26:

• Total participating institutions: 686
• Total profiles published publicly: 500
• Total visits to the U-CAN site: 63,978
• Total page views: 402,738
• Profile with the most hits since launch: Adelphi University, New York (2,253 hits)

U-CAN's Greatest Hits

We’re starting to look at some of the initial trends and web stats for the U-CAN site, and have compiled a list of the top ten institutional profiles viewed since October 18, when we added a hit counter to each profile.

What's the secret of the top ten U-CAN participants in getting the most hits? We'll be able to give some more definitive answers once we have more data, but some early thoughts after looking at the current top ten are below (in order starting with the most hits):

• Adelphi University - Uses their U-CAN profile as a “Quick Facts” link from the “About” section of their website (http://www.adelphi.edu/about/)
• Carleton College - Published an article on U-CAN in their alumni newsletter (http://apps.carleton.edu/alumni/events/newsletter/)
• Fairfield University - Added a link to their U-CAN profile from their “Admissions” section (http://www.fairfield.edu/x1544.html)
• Swarthmore College - Added a link to their U-CAN profile from the “Data, Facts and Stats” section of their admissions page (http://www.swarthmore.edu/x15226.xml)
• Albertus Magnus College - Displayed the U-CAN logo and a link to their profile from their homepage (http://www.albertus.edu/)
• Bucknell University - Published a news article that links to their profile (http://www.bucknell.edu/x38345.xml)
• Lafayette College - Added the U-CAN logo and a link to their profile to the header of their web template (http://www.lafayette.edu/)
• Duke University - Published a news article on U-CAN that provides a link to their profile (http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2007/10/ucan.html)
• Johns Hopkins University - Published a news article with a link to their profile (http://www.jhu.edu/gazette/2007/15oct07/15newweb.html)
• Union College – Added a feature on their U-CAN profile to their homepage (http://www.union.edu)
  

Have a good idea about publicizing your U-CAN profile? Let us know, and we'll compile a list of the best ways campuses have found to increase the hits to their profile.

The Washington Post Ponders U-CAN

Washington Post education writer Jay Mathews wants to know: "Can U-CAN help you find a good college?" His online Admissions 101 blog poses that question to readers. The response? Sparse, but positive. Poster "contrarymom" writes that U-CAN is a "great addition" to the college search process and that "U-CAN is now bookmarked in my computer." She also has good recommendations on how to improve the search function. As U-CAN version 1.0 evolves over the coming months, the number of search variables will grow. As we work to enhance the consumer's experience on U-CAN, we will carefully assess the feedback of users such as contrarymom. In fact, we encourage others to share their thoughts about U-CAN -- feel free to send us an e-mail at ucan@naicu.edu.

U-CAN Website Traffic Skyrockets

Following U-CAN's public launch last week, we've seen significant increase in traffic to the site. Traffic reached a new peak on Tuesday, with 2,466 visitors viewing 212,170 pages.

Much of this traffic is coming from institutions who have linked to their profiles from a dedicated button on the website (which we recommend) or through a news release. Our thanks go to the following top ten referrers to U-CAN (in order by number of referrals) as of 10/4/07:

Union College
Lehigh University
Bates College
Hamline University
Albright College
Furman University
DePauw University
Bucknell University
St. John's College
Robert Morris University

U-CAN Goes Live!

Potential college students and their parents have gained a new resource for exploring and comparing private colleges and universities. The U-CAN consumer information web site, consumer-driven in its content and format, was publicly unveiled this morning at a news conference.

"We are very excited about the launch of U-CAN," said NAICU President David L. Warren. "There are many consumer sources out there, but U-CAN offers something distinct.

"The college profiles provide a unique mix of 42 quantitative elements, narrative descriptions, and 25 hyperlinks to campus web sites," Warren said. "Institutions not only report cut-and-dry statistics, but also have the opportunity to express what makes them special."

Over 600 private colleges and universities have signed on to participate in the initiative, with over 440 profiles published so far. Another 150 profiles are expected to be published within the week.For more information, check out NAICU's press release and media kit.

U-CAN Ready to Launch!

Tomorrow finally sees the launch of U-CAN! After more than a year in development, the site is ready to go. More than 600 institutions have signed on to participate, and more than 400 profiles will be live for the launch.

In the morning, the public will have access to a wealth of information, including dozens of links for each school that gives campus context to important data on enrollment, admissions, cost, financial aid, and student diversity. These links take users directly to institutional websites to get a better sense of what life is like on campus.

We look forward to your comments about the site: www.ucan-network.org

For information about tomorrow's press activities, check out the U-CAN News Room.

U-CAN Rockets Past 500 Participating Institutions

In a flurry of activity on Tuesday, the roster of U-CAN participants shot past the 500-participant mark, and by late afternoon stood at 512 private colleges and universities that had signed up to participate.

Congratulations to Washington University in St. Louis on becoming the 500th institution to participate in the project.

The complete list of institutions that were added since the last update:

Brown University (Rhode Island)
Culver-Stockton College (Missouri)
D’Youville College (New York)
DePauw University (Indiana)
Dominican University (Illinois)
Edward Waters College (Florida)
Grinnell College (Iowa)
Lawrence Technological University (Michigan)
Marymount University (Virginia)
Newman University (Kansas)
Nichols College (Massachusetts)
Northwest Christian College (Oregon)
Park University (Missouri)
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Indiana)
Saint Joseph’s College (Indiana)
St. Catharine College (Kentucky)
Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri)
Whittier College (California)

Swarms of New Participants Means More Information for Consumers

The end of August and Labor Day weekend saw increased interest by institutions in participating in U-CAN. The participating institutions list has swelled to nearly 490, making it likely that 500 or more institutions will have signed on to participate by the September 26 launch.

New arrivals:

American University (District of Columbia)
Anderson University (Indiana)
Assumption College (Massachusetts)
Belhaven College (Mississippi)
Berea College (Kentucky)
Bowdoin College (Maine)
Bridgewater College (Virginia)
Bucknell University (Pennsylvania)
College of Santa Fe (New Mexico)
College of the Atlantic (Maine)
Converse College (South Carolina)
Dallas Christian College (Texas)
Dartmouth College (New Hampshire)
Gettysburg College (Pennsylvania)
Harvard University (Massachusetts)
Hobart & William Smith Colleges (New York)
Houghton College (New York)
Judson College (Alabama)
Martin Methodist College (Tennessee)
Mount Ida College (Massachusetts)
Mount Mercy College (Iowa)
Mount Vernon Nazarene University (Ohio)
Myers University (Ohio)
Salve Regina University (Rhode Island)
Seton Hall University (New Jersey)
Simpson College (Iowa)
Villanova University (Pennsylvania)
Warren Wilson College (North Carolina)
Westmont College (California)

Strong Consumer Demand, the Best College Data ... and Now a Launch Date

After more than a year in development, the U-CAN web site is now set to go live in just a few weeks. On Wednesday, September 26, we will launch U-CAN during a news conference in Washington, D.C. At the start of the morning press event (time to be announced), the U-CAN Web site will become accessible to the public.

Georgetown College Joins U-CAN: Participant List Tops 450

Georgetown College in Kentucky today became the 450th institution to sign-up for U-CAN.

Others who signed up since the last update:

La Roche College (Pennsylvania)
Hamline University (Minnesota)
St. Edwards University (Texas)
Marist College (New York)
Boston College (Massachusetts)
Dominican University of California
Paul Smith's College (New York)
Kentucky Mountain Bible College (Kentucky)
Marywood University (Pennsylvania)
Marian College of Fund Du Lac (Wisconsin(
Lyon College (Arkansas)
Waynesburg University (Pennsylvania)
Heritage University (Washington)
Chestnut Hill College (Pennsylvania)
Marymount Manhattan College (New York)
Southeastern University (District of Columbia)
Northwest University (Washington)

U-CAN Opens for Data Entry by Participating Institutions

Today NAICU opened U-CAN for data entry by participating institutions. Nearly 450 colleges and universities received their log-in information and began the process of putting their information into the system.

That puts us one step closer to providing important consumer information to prospective students and parents. Stay tuned for updates on the progress of the the data entry.

Growing and Growing

The number of institutions participating in U-CAN continues to grow. The list now tops 430, with new institutions added daily.

Today's additions:
Denison University (Ohio)
University of Indianapolis (Indiana)
Rockhurst University (Missouri)
Brenau University (Georgia)
College of Wooster (Ohio)
Santa Clara University (California)

Click here for the complete list of participating institutions.

Deciphering Morse Code

In a posting on Morse Code yesterday, U.S. News data director Bob Morse writes that the magazine “welcome[s] the publication of more higher education data” from alternative sources. Of course, we thought that welcome would extend to U-CAN. Alas, it wasn’t to be. Nothing but rotten tomatoes for our consumer-informed college information source. No mention of how focus groups with students and parents are driving the concise content and user-friendly design of U-CAN’s college and university profiles. No kudos for making our rich repository of more than 400 profiles free to the public. No compliments on how nicely the profiles will interface with targeted pages of institution web sites. NAICU, for the record, takes no stance on the validity of the U.S. News rankings.

Spotlight on U-CAN Grows Brighter

Newspapers in Texas (here and here), Indiana, and Ohio are the latest media outlets to cite the U-CAN initiative. Their stories yesterday and today follow a slew of other clips that have mentioned the NAICU consumer information tool and highlighted participating institutions since last Friday, when U.S. News released its 2008 rankings. Take a look at the complete listing of U-CAN stories, including pieces in the Washington Post, New York Times, and Time magazine (here and here). Let us know if we’ve missed any.

The U-CAN Blog

Welcome to the U-CAN blog. We will use this space to keep you updated on important information about U-CAN, media coverage, and other news and events. We welcome your comments.