How We Make Sure the Rankings Are Right

I am also curious as to whether Hodges University #1 is a mistake. Now it has gone from #1 to unranked in the masters- south category?? What gives...

Drk of FL 10:50AM September 06, 2008

Is the #1 ranking for Hodges University a mistake?

curious George of NC 4:52PM August 23, 2008

Bob --

Why doesn't USNWR include the cost for room and board?

Most universities require first-year students to live on campus. If a student & her/his parent(s) are going to use the rankings to determine what's the best school to attend, then the yearly cost of room and board for each school should be included in the "total cost" category. If not there, then a separate column should be added that includes this figure. In either case, room and board costs should be displayed prominently, particularly on web thumbnail listings for each school.

{To the argument that it costs “more” to live in some parts of the U.S. than others, so room and board costs are not included to reflect this: parents are still going to pay that room and board whether their daughter will be living in Hanover, New Hampshire, Durham, North Carolina, or Berkeley, California. That cost isn’t going to be wiped away. Paying room and board is a part of the real costs of attending college. Including it will lend prospective students and their parents more of what the rankings profess to provide: information.}

A quick rule of thumb: room & board runs about 30 % of what is considered "costs", tuition & fees. So, as examples: for a first-year student beginning her/his college career this fall at one of the following universities, that student's bill will be for the total dollar amount indicated, which includes tuition, room and board, and fees:

Harvard, $47,215 (USNWR figure, $36,173), from http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2008/03.20/99-tuition.html

U-Penn, $48,148 (USNWR figure, $37,526), from http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/article.php?id=1348

Notre Dame, $46,680 (USNR figure, $36,847), from http://admissions.nd.edu/financial-aid

Of course, these figures also don't include "additional costs": transportation to and from school, books, new underwear, shampoo, and the occasional Taco Bell (or beer) run, etc. Depending on several factors (how far away from home a student will be and how often she/he will visit home, what a student's major is, if a student prefers Natural Light or Heineken, etc.), these "additional costs" can be upwards of another $2,000-$4,000 annually.

So, we're talking, basically, $50,000 a year. And that's just 2008-2009. For the future, figure regular, annual increases in the 3 - 8 percent range for tuition, room & board, and fees, not to mention usual inflationary/CPI increases in those "additional costs" items, and we're up to about $60,000/year by a student's senior year, bringing us to about $220,000 for four years.

There’s a big difference, then, between “2008-2009 Tuition and Fees” and reality.

So, again Bob, why no room and board cost?

Thanks.

Matt of IN 3:20PM August 22, 2008

DG - yo are essentially right that there really no "best" school, and that the admissions process creates a most unfortunate amount of stress. I wouldn't however, law as much of the blame on rankings (although many of my colleagues do).

Despite the misleading title of "best colleges", the rankings aren't misleading as long as they are used in context. The ranking methodology is clearly spelled out: it's heavily weighted on the opinion of people employed in the field. The issue of whether or not we know anything about other schools is a very fair question, but there isn't any ambiguity about the source of that data. The ranks also are heavily loaded towards schools that spend more money. Again, there no evidence that this is a useful statistic, but it isn't as if USNWR are trying to hide how the data was used.

Colleges and universities are competing with each other in athletics, for research dollars, for donors, and of course for students. We have specialized marketing people in each field attempting to do their best to represent us to the public in a way that will advantage our institutions. I agree with many of my peers that I would like to see much of the commercialization taken out of the process, and I think there are some good proposals to do so, but there is a reality in this particular area: rankings sell magazines! Whether the prettiest people or the "best schools", we societally eat it up. As long as those rankings are open and honest about how they are developed, I think it's up to the rest of us to work harder to put them in a reasonable context.

Of course, my institution will benefit massively from the new list of up and coming schools. So after all the reasonable discussion, I'll be running out to post giant 'We're Number One" signs across the D.C. area...

Dr. Andrew Flagel

Dean of Admissions

George Mason University (that would be #1 in up and coming schools!)

www.notjustadmissions.com

www.masonmetro.com

Dr. Andrew Flagel of VA 11:28AM August 22, 2008