The grades of coming in for Obama’s vaunted College Affordability Plan.

Like Obamacare, the grades seem to be a bit shy of the “solid B plus” mark.

For example, The Cornell Daily Sun editorial board is worried implementation could “do more harm than good.

In a Forbes op-ed published this week, “Rating President Obama’s College Ratings,” President David Skorton and Glenn Altschuler, vice president for University relations, join the critics who express skepticism of Obama’s college affordability plan. Given the widening gap between tuition costs and family incomes and affordability continuing to slip further out of reach, bold and creative higher education reforms are much needed. Obama’s higher education plan is a step in that direction, with compelling underlying concepts and some clear, beneficial changes. But we agree with some national education experts that the proposed college ratings system is flawed.

The ratings system would assign performance-based values to U.S. colleges and tether federal financial aid eligibility to those rankings. Connecting aid with outcomes is an ambitious idea. But we worry that relying on rigid, numbers-driven metrics will lead some universities to take a numbers-driven approach to reform — instead of pursuing true qualitative change. Obama’s suggested criteria may push universities not toward enforcement of higher standards, but rather toward reduced rigor and grade inflation. Experts recall the backlash seen with No Child Left Behind, where some K-12 schools lowered academic expectations in order to drive up graduation rates. Alternatively, if colleges that fear a low rating become more selective in admissions, some students in need of financial aid may be left out in the cold.

…With the persistence of such discrepancies preventing so many students and families from being able to comfortably finance higher education, substantial and immediate systemic changes are necessary. Obama’s plan includes some quick and positive measures that should be implemented in the U.S. as soon as possible. But in considering college ratings, we urge caution; the system in its proposed form could potentially do more harm than good.