President Obama released plans for an expansive new system used to rate colleges based on their performances and to award federal student aid, but the university should be well insulated from any potential loss of federal funds.

The proposed rating system, announced three weeks ago, is based on factors such as tuition, student debt levels, access to the institution, graduation rates, loan default rates and earnings of recent graduates. The results will contribute to the college's scorecard. The scorecard system debuted in February and serves as a way to measure and compare the net price of colleges online.

"Of course we need that funding, but we would be able to address those issues in a way most schools would not be able to," Mike Scott, director of scholarships and student financial aid, said regarding any potential drop in federal student aid funds.

Even with high tuition and net costs, Scott said the university would not be affected negatively in significant ways thanks to favorable scores in graduation, employment and loan default rates.

Smith said he did not think the new plan would affect the way TCU admits students since the university practices "need-blind admission," which involves making an admission decision independent of the financial situation of the applicant.

Adam Schiffer, associate professor of political science, said the initiative is primarily targeting public universities, which tend to receive more federal funds for student aid than private institutions like TCU.

The administration said they hope these ratings, expected to be completed by fall 2015, will allow students to compare the value of different universities and encourage institutions to improve their rankings. By the 2018 academic year, federal student aid would be based on a college’s scorecard value.

"The fact that the federal government is considering attaching financial aid allocations to [college ratings] is what's different," Scott said.

The U.S. Department of Education awards $150 billion a year in federal student financial aid, most commonly through grants, loans and work-study programs.

"Students can continue to choose whichever college they want, but taxpayer dollars will be steered toward high-performing colleges that provide the best value," the White House said in a press release about the plan.

Schiffer said the proposal was a symbolic gesture intended to appeal to the American youth vote.

"I think he genuinely believes that college affordability is an important issue and one that's particularly important to younger voters, who voted for him disproportionately in both of his elections," Schiffer said.

Scott said the plan was a more public approach to discussing the rising costs of college and to shame colleges into finding ways to reduce costs.

"It's more of a way to call attention to schools who are receiving lots of federal aid – who maybe have even raised their prices – but aren't delivering the product that they're selling," Scott said.

Scott said the trend toward more transparency and more data on colleges is a good thing, but warned that tying federal aid to college ratings may have some unintended consequences for colleges dealing with issues beyond their control.

Smith said problems could arise with the program's methodology because the U.S. Department of Education's data is updated and submitted at different times.

Critics have also pointed out that collection of much of the data on which the ratings system would be based is either prohibited or constrained under current law.

"You can only get [data] so current, so some of the things you're comparing are not apples to apples," said Scott. "They're close, but they're not the same."

Schiffer said the proposed changes have little chance of becoming actual policy in the current political environment.

"There's almost no chance that any Obama initiative will get through this current Congress," said Schiffer, referring to the partisan environment in Washington.

Even if such legislation was passed, Scott said students should not be concerned over a potential loss of federal funds.

The university was threatened with a similar scenario in 2011 when the state threatened to cut Texas Equalization Grant money for private institutions.

"We've always got contingency plans in place for things like that to happen," Scott said.