What Counts in College Rankings?

Advice & News| by Robert A. Scott

As we enter the fall season, high school seniors and their families will be talking to counselors and arranging to visit campuses. They also will consult guides that rank colleges.

Rankings are big business, and rankings of colleges are no exception. Just look at chain bookstore shelves that carry numerous titles, including U.S. News and World Report, Forbes, Money Magazine, and Wall Street Journal. Most guides use criteria such as admissions selectivity and endowment per student for their selections, focusing on institutional wealth and those excluded instead of those admitted.

A couple employ other criteria. The Fiske Guide uses an ethnographic approach akin to an anthropologist studying a village. In addition to the usual data, the Fiske editors examine the culture and ambience of a campus, thus helping readers learn how a student might "fit" in and succeed at the college. This approach is helpful for parents and prospective students to decide which institutions to visit.

Another approach is taken by the Washington Monthly's Guide to Colleges. It focuses on categories of institutions with an emphasis on those which assist in upward mobility instead of those whose students come from upper-income families.

Most of the 15 million undergraduate students in American higher education attend a college or university within 100 miles of home. Nearly 60% stay in their home state and two-thirds study within 25 miles of home. They also are more likely to remain in their home area after graduation as teachers, nurses, accountants, and other professionals. Therefore, it is important for parents, students, and those who advise them to know about the characteristics and benefits of these institutions. They tend to be cultural and economic anchors in their communities.

For higher education professionals, these differences in how colleges are evaluated matter beyond just the rankings. Enrollment professionals can use a broader understanding of institutional value when communicating with prospective students and families. University and college leaders can consider how their institutions contribute to workforce development and the communities they serve. And for professionals considering higher ed as a career, looking beyond institutional prestige can offer a fuller picture of the mission, impact, and community in which it is a part.

Public policies about institutional and student financial aid should remember these small private institutions and their regions. These colleges are most vulnerable to the demographic and fiscal challenges that have resulted in the closure and mergers of 89 colleges since 2020, leaving over 53,000 students stranded. When these colleges close, the region suffers and the students are less likely to continue their pursuit of a bachelor's degree.

The institutions that are disappearing are mostly small private colleges that have enrolled non-wealthy students, creating social mobility from working-class to middle-class incomes.

Almost one-third of rural students live in an "educational desert", meaning they have no college within 30 miles. These students are less likely to earn an associate degree.

College enrollment varies by race and ethnicity. White and higher-income students who live in a community college desert will find a four-year college and, more likely than not, will earn a bachelor's degree. However, Hispanic, lower-income, and, to some extent, Black students in the same circumstances are less likely to find an alternative and earn a bachelor's degree, thus limiting their economic prospects.

Rural and small-town students make up about 10% of public high school students, and colleges in rural areas account for about 10% of all colleges. It is therefore important for parents, policy makers, and institutional leaders to know which colleges serve the "forgotten Americans" in rural and other less populated areas described by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education more than 50 years ago.

The Monthly offers a ranking system that assesses the colleges that serve rural students and their communities. Many have not heard of these schools, most of which are funded at a fraction of the level of that of elite schools. But they deserve national attention for sustaining the economic and civic life of rural regions that state and federal lawmakers have too often ignored.

This is the unique contribution of the Washington Monthly's "Best Colleges for Rural America." These are among the institutions that do the most to help the children of regular middle-class and working-class families gain upward mobility and become engaged citizens. By using these criteria, the Monthly identifies and highlights colleges often ignored by ranking systems that focus on prestige and wealth. For example, at the top of the Monthly's list is the University of West Alabama, which on the U.S. News list is number 85 out of 135 regional universities. Nearly two-thirds of UWA's students graduate in fields facing shortages in rural areas, especially teaching. Four years after getting their degrees, they earn a median income of $64,122, some $26,561 more than graduates from similar backgrounds would be expected to earn after attending the typical college.

Other examples include The University of Texas-Rio Grande at number 4, sixteen slots ahead of Yale at 20; Western Governors University at 13, four positions ahead of Brown University at 17; and Hunter College of the City University of New York at 15, six places ahead of Cornell at 21.

The argument is not that selective colleges ignore these students but that the major rankings often overlook the institutions that serve them. The Washington Monthly focuses on them , making it an excellent guide for families and educators alike. It also offers higher education professionals another way to think about institutional value: not simply in terms of prestige or selectivity, but in terms of whom colleges serve and the difference they make in their communities.

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