Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA)

The Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) communicates information on the undergraduate student experience through a common Web reporting template, the College Portrait. The VSA is a voluntary initiative for four-year public colleges and universities. The VSA is designed to help institutions meet the following objectives:

Demonstrate accountability and stewardship to the public

Measure educational outcomes to identify effective educational practices

Assemble information that is accessible, understandable, and comparable

The College Portrait provides consistent, comparable and transparent information on the characteristics of institutions and students, cost of attendance, student engagement with the learning process and core educational outcomes. The information is intended for students, families, policy-makers, campus faculty and staff, the general public, and other higher education stakeholders.

The VSA project is a collaborative effort among the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), and the public higher education community. Collectively AASCU and NASULGC represent over 520 public institutions that enroll 7.5 million students and award 70% of bachelor's degrees in U.S. each year.

View Wayne State College’s College Portrait.

For more information:

Voluntary System of Accountability

College Portrait Main Portal