Washington Monthly, September/October 2012: College Rankings Issue.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Rankings Among liberal-arts colleges, Tougaloo College (MS) is ranked 17th out of 254. The editors write:
Tougaloo College, a small, private, historically black institution in Mississippi, has struggled financially in recent years. But it continues to enroll large numbers of low-income students, graduate more of them than expected, and keep prices low. Tougaloo also ranks above better-known colleges in research… Among baccalaureate institutions, Elizabeth City State University (NC) is ranked first in the nation; and Tuskegee University (AL) is ranked number three. The editors write:
ECSU, a public, historically black institution in North Carolina, tops our ranking of baccalaureate institutions. Tuskegee University, another historically black college, comes in at number three. Bothe enroll large numbers of low-income students and graduate more of them than statistics predict. Elizabeth City is extremely affordable, with one of the lowest reported net prices in the nation. Tuskegee maintains a strong pipeline into the ROTC program, and tops all but a handful of peers in research. ECSU has, in addition to its HBCU grants, MSEIP, GEAR UP, Upward Bound, and Student Support Services programs.
Other ranked institutions:
National Universities: North Carolina A&T State University (33); Florida A&M University (80); Howard University (82); Tennessee State University (87); Clark Atlanta University (194); Morgan State University (256).
Liberal arts colleges: Xavier University of Louisiana (31); Spelman College (32); Claflin University (38); Fisk University (51); Dillard University (59); Savannah State University (93); Kentucky State University (115); Lane College (116); West Virginia State University (119); Johnson C. Smith University (129); Allen University (144); Rust College (186); Talladega College (202); Huston-Tillotson University (206); Stillman College (214).
Master’s Universities: Alabama A&M University (24); North Carolina Central University (26); Fayetteville State University (76); Grambling State University (85).
Baccalaureate Colleges: University of Arkansas – Pine Bluff (32); Benedict College (44); Fort Valley State University (50); Virginia Union University (62); Voorhees College (67); Jarvis Christian College (95).
Notes on methodology. The rankings are based on three factors:
- Social mobility: Credit for enrolling low-income students and helping them graduate. Components:
- Percentage of students (undergraduate, one assumes) receiving Pell grants;
- Predicted (from incoming SATs, %Pell, etc.) vs. actual graduation rate;
- Net price of attendance per student; and
- Rank on cost-adjusted graduation measure.
- Research production: especially undergraduates going on for Ph.D.s. Components:
- Dollar ($M) expenditures on research;
- Rank on number of undergraduates going on for PhDs, relative to school size;
- Rank on number of S/E PhDs awarded;
- Rank on number of prestigious faculty awards; and
- Rank on proportion of faculty who are Academies members.
- Commitment to service. Components:
- Rank on number of undergraduates going on to PC, relative to student body size;
- Rank on percentage of ROTC students;
- Percent of FWS dollars going to community service (rank in parentheses)
- Rank on percentage of students performing community service combined with number of hours served, relative to student body size; and
- Rank on combined measure of staff support for community service, relative to staff size; number of courses incorporating service, relative to school size; and whether the institution provides scholarships for community service.
The universe includes 1,569 four-year colleges and universities. Institutions that are only graduate were excluded, as well as any that reported at least half of their degrees were other than bachelor’s. Also excluded were colleges with less than 100 undergraduates, as well as the five service academies, and a number of institutions that had not reported key data for the past three years.
Data are reported in four institutional categories:
- National universities: top 30 and 258 ranked institutions;
- Liberal-arts colleges: 254 ranked institutions;
- Master’s degree universities: top 100; and
- Baccalaureate colleges: top 100.
In addition, the magazine calls out institutions (in all the categories) that provide exceptional value for students.
Posted By: Reginald Culpepper
Monday, September 24th 2012 at 9:01PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
