U.S. News and World Reports

U.S. News and World Reports published their rankings of the best colleges each year in an effort to provide families with options that will be the best value academically for the cost of attendance.  According to Morse & Flanigan (2011), the way rankings are calculated have been updated as indicated  below:

• Undergraduate academic reputation (22.5% for national universities and national liberal art colleges and 25% for regional college and universities).
• Retention (20% for national universities and national liberal arts colleges and 25% for regional universities and regional colleges
• Faculty Resources (20%)
• Student Selectivity (15%)
• Financial Resources (10%)
• Graduation Rate Performance (7.5% for national universities and national liberal arts colleges only)
• Alumni Giving Rate (5%) (p. 3)

Financial resources are evaluated based on per-student spending of the institution.  U.S. News considers greater per-student spending to be indicative of the institution's ability to offer a wider variety of services and programs to students (Morse & Flanigan, 2011).

Archibald and Feldman (2011) in their discussion of fiscal management and policies stated that the changes in the rankings in U.S. News over the last 20 years shows that public institutions are lagging behind private institutions.  In the first edition of the report from 1987, the top 25 rankings included eight public institutions.  Five of the public institutions in 1987 were among the top 20.  The 2010 rankings had only three public institutions in the top 25, and one of those was ranked at 21 and the other two were tied for 24 (Archibald & Feldman, 2011). 

Archibald, R. B. & Feldman, D. H. (2011).  Why Does College Cost So Much?  New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Morse, R. & Flanigan, S. (2011).  How U.S. Calculates the College Rankings. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2011/09/12/how-us-news-calculates-the-college-rankings-2012?PageNr=3