	Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
	Serving the Campus Sustainability Community

STARS Frequently Asked Questions

What are the goals of STARS?
STARS is designed to:

Provide a guide for advancing sustainability in all sectors of higher education, from education and research to operations and administration.
Enable meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions by establishing a common standard of measurement for sustainability in higher education.
Create incentives for continual improvement toward sustainability.
Facilitate information sharing about higher education sustainability practices and performance.
Build a stronger, more diverse campus sustainability community and promote a comprehensive understanding of sustainability that includes its social, economic and environmental dimensions.

Why is STARS needed?
There is currently no standard, comprehensive way to compare the sustainability performance of higher education institutions and to benchmark a single institution’s performance over time. This makes it difficult for many institutions to reap the marketing, recruitment, and fundraising benefits of sustainability leadership. In addition, there is no central source for standardized information about what colleges and universities are doing to move toward sustainability. Access to such information can help institutions set meaningful sustainability goals and identify strategies for achieving those goals.

Aren’t there other sustainability rating/ranking systems already?
There are several other rating systems or rankings including the Sustainable Endowments Institute’s College Sustainability Report Card, Grist magazine’s 15 Green Colleges and Universities, Sierra Magazine’s 10 That Get It, National Wildlife Federation's National Report Card on Environmental Performance and Sustainability in Higher Education, Kiwi magazine’s Green College Report, and Newsweek’s Current Magazine’s 16 Schools That Care (pdf). In addition, The Princeton Review is developing a rating system based on environmental performance. While all of these ratings and rankings serve valuable purposes, they don’t fully meet the needs identified above and differ from STARS in the following ways:

STARS has a transparent process for its ratings – it’s clear to everyone what an institution needs to do to achieve a high rating.
All colleges and universities have an equal opportunity to participate in STARS.
STARS is being developed with widespread participation and input from higher education and sustainability communities.
Most of the information that institutions submit to earn a STARS rating will be shared, thereby enabling greater opportunities for learning and collaboration.
Consistent with the original and long-standing meaning of sustainability, STARS includes credits related to an institution’s social, economic, and environmental performance. Other systems tend to focus exclusively or primarily on environmental performance.
STARS is a rating system not a ranking, which means many institutions can earn the same rating and are not competing against each other for a ranking.

For a specific comparison between STARS and SEI’s College Sustainability Report Card, please see this post in Campus Sustainability Perspectives, AASHE’s staff blog.

Why should a college or university use STARS?
Colleges and universities can use STARS to gain recognition for and share information about their sustainability accomplishments. STARS also enables institutions track their progress over time and identify areas for improvement. In addition, by standardizing and simplifying the process of gathering information about sustainability achievements, STARS will also help enable institutions to compare their sustainability performance to other institutions.

To encourage use of STARS, AASHE will reorganize its annual awards program around STARS, and will be working to publicize the achievements of STARS participants. For example, AASHE will be integrating STARS into its online resource center so that all activities recognized under STARS are publicized in the resource center as well.

What type of schools should use STARS?
STARS is designed for all types of institutions, from research universities to community colleges. In addition, STARS encompasses the spectrum of sustainability achievement. STARS provides a framework for institutions taking first steps toward sustainability as well as established sustainability leaders.

Why does STARS include “social” indicators? Isn’t sustainability mostly about the environment?
The most commonly used definition of sustainability – meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs – is from Our Common Future: The Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, commonly known as the Brundtland Commission report. The interconnectedness and interdependence of the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainability are included throughout Our Common Future. The Brundtland Commission writes, “our inability to promote the common interest in sustainable development is often a product of the relative neglect of economic and social justice.” The report continues, “[a] world in which poverty and inequity are endemic will always be prone to ecological and other crises. Sustainable development requires meeting the basic needs of all and extending to all the opportunity to satisfy their aspirations for a better life.” And, "[e]ven the narrow notion of physical sustainability implies a concern for social equity between generations, a concern that must logically be extended to equity within each generation."

Many popular uses of and references to sustainability also emphasize the concept’s economic, environmental, and social dimensions. For example, businesses talk about the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profits (or, alternately, human capital, natural capital, and financial capital). Likewise, sustainability educators commonly refer to the Three Es of sustainability: economy, ecology, and equity. Similarly, popular representations of sustainability underscore the concept’s three dimensions. Sustainability experts often use a three-legged stool as a symbol for sustainability. The social, economic, and environmental components of sustainability each represent one of the stool’s legs. If one of the legs is missing, the stool can’t balance or function. Another common illustration of sustainability is a diagram depicting three overlapping circles, representing environmental needs, economic needs and social needs. The area where the circles overlap and all three needs are met is the area of sustainability.

STARS represents an attempt to translate this broad and inclusive view of sustainability to measurable objectives at the campus level. Thus, it includes credits related to an institution’s environmental, social, and economic performance.

Will the STARS data be made public?
Starting in 2009, when STARS will begin providing sustainability ratings, most data collected for each credit will be made publicly available. During the pilot period, all information will be kept confidential.

Will third party certification be required? How will you ensure that information is accurate?
STARS users may choose to seek third party certification/verification, but it is not required. Institutions that choose to pursue certification may be rewarded with additional points or other special recognition under STARS.

STARS has several strategies to ensure that the information institutions submit is accurate, in absence of third party certification. First, a responsible party from the institution has to provide a statement that information submitted for each credit is accurate to the best of his or her knowledge. Also, a letter from the institution’s president or chancellor stating the information is true to the best of his or her knowledge must accompany each submission. In addition, making all information publicly available will promote accountability.

Finally, if there is sufficient interest, AASHE may create system for peer review of STARS submissions.

How is innovation encouraged or rewarded?
Like the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system, AASHE plans to allocate points that reward innovative solutions to sustainability challenges. The exact process and mechanism for giving credit for innovation will be determined in advance of the release of v. 1.0.

How much will it cost an institution to participate in STARS?
It has not been determined whether or not STARS will require a fee for participation. AASHE will do everything it can to reduce costs of participation, including the use of online reporting. (Institutions do not have to pay a fee to participate in the pilot phase of STARS.)

AASHE does not yet know exactly how much it will cost for an institution to gather data and submit for a STARS rating. By simplifying the benchmarking process, providing a common framework, and offering resources that correspond with each credit, AASHE expects that the costs of participating in STARS may be lower than the cost of conducting an independent sustainability assessment.

Who is involved in STARS?
In August 2006, the Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium, an informal network of higher education associations with a commitment to sustainability, issued a call for a campus sustainability rating system (pdf). Over the next year and a half, AASHE gathered feedback and input from workshop participants at several campus sustainability conferences, including the AASHE 2006 Conference, the 2007 Rocky Mountain Sustainability Summit, the 2007 Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference, and the 2007 Greening of the Campus Conference.

AASHE established a Strategic Advisory Committee comprising senior staff or appointees of nearly 30 higher education associations. In addition, it established a Technical Advisory Committee of over 90 campus-based experts or consultants on the sections in STARS.

In September 2007 AASHE released STARS 0.4, a draft version of the rating system that included potential credits. The two advisory committees as well as other experts from throughout the sustainability and higher education communities provided comments and feedback (pdf) on the draft system. Following that, the committee members offered additional input on a detailed set of survey questions drafted by AASHE. At the same time, committee members and other experts participated in a series of focused conference calls conducted by AASHE. The calls helped identify and resolve outstanding issues about particular areas covered by STARS.

Throughout 2008, over 90 institutions will use and provide feedback on the pilot version of STARS.

How can my campus get involved?
AASHE plans to release another draft version of STARS (v.0.5) for public comment in spring 2008. All interested parties are invited to provide feedback. When STARS 1.0 is released in spring 2009, all colleges and universities are invited to participate and earn a rating.

For how long is a STARS rating valid?
STARS ratings will be valid for three years. After three years, an institution must submit a new report in order to claim a STARS rating.

How often can an institution submit a new report?
Institutions may submit a new STARS report as frequently as once a year. A new statement from the institution’s president or chancellor must accompany the new submission.

What is the difference between Tier One and Tier Two credits?
Tier One credits tend to focus on sustainability outcomes and are worth one or more points. Tier Two credits tend to focus on strategies institutions have adopted to move toward sustainability and are worth less than one point. The information institutions submit for both types of credits will be valuable in recognizing what institutions are doing and sharing best practices.

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