[author: John L. Culhane, Jr.]

The Financial Aid Shopping Sheet prepared by the CFPB and the Department of Education will now receive its litmus test. Last week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced in a blog post on the DOE’s web site that more than 500 colleges and universities have agreed to use the Shopping Sheet for financial aid awarded during the 2013-2014 school year. The text of that blog post now also appears on the CFPB’s web site.

Interestingly, in his blog post, Secretary Duncan chose to display a portion of the Shopping Sheet that focuses attention more on the choice of school than on the individual’s cost of attendance, displaying a panel that shows the School Graduation Rate, Loan Default Rate (presumably the default rate on federal loans), and Median Federal Loan Borrowing. We look forward to hearing what students, parents, and schools have to say about the Shopping Sheet and its impact on school selection.