Whether you place much value on the lists that come out ranking colleges each year or not, it’s never a bad idea to do your research and be informed when starting your college search. The latest, a ranking of the “100 Best Values in Public Colleges,” comes from Kiplinger, which based its conclusions on a combination of academic quality - standardized test scores, retention and graduation rates, student-faculty ratios - and the schools’ costs vs. financial aid offerings.

Knowing what the “best deals” are out there, at least according to Kiplinger, may not be bad information to have, especially as tuition costs continue to rise and high school graduates are increasingly looking at college costs and the best bang for their buck when choosing their intended colleges. The list is led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for overall value, and Binghamton University for best out-of-state value. Kiplinger says both those schools offer either the same or more financial aid than they have in previous years, despite a year where schools have looked to raise tuition and cut aid to recoup budget losses, while still delivering impressive academic programs. Other schools that ranked high included the University of Maryland at College Park and the University of Virginia.

Using the magazine’s scoring tool, Kiplinger also offers a large amount of data that allows students to make their own assumptions, including in-state vs. out-of-state costs at public institutions and the average financial aid award at any given school. You’re also able to search by state or by school to see whether the school you intend to attend is a “good deal.” It may not hurt to know whether you’re sacrificing quality for cost, or weighing the options of an expensive private college over a less expensive public institution. (Kiplinger also ranks the “Best Value” private colleges with rankings for the top 50 private liberal arts colleges and the top 50 private universities. Pomona College led the liberal arts colleges; the California Institute of Technology led the private universities.)

Remember that it’s also important to do your own research when choosing the right school. Consider not only the tuition and fees associated with the school, but whether the colleges you’re considering offer the fields of study you may be interested in down the line. Do you want to be close to home, or a little farther away? What kinds of extracurricular activities are you interested in? Are you an athlete, narrowing your choice by a school’s sport offerings and athletic scholarships? Weigh the pros and cons of every school you’re considering to make the best choice, and when you’ve narrowed that list down, it may come down to the financial aid each school is offering you.

Posted: under College Search, Financial Aid.
Tags: choosing a college, college rankings, College Search, Financial Aid, private colleges, state colleges

Comments (0) Jan 06 2010

Most of you know what a college town looks like - a community dominated by the students, faculty and staff of the school that occupies the community there. While many students prefer to apply to the more insulated school environment that comes with a college town, others seek out educations in cities where there’s more to the community than the college housed there. Something those students may not consider when filing their applications is whether that intended school has been a good neighbor or a stranger to that surrounding community.

A survey presented yesterday by Dr. Evan S. Dobelle, the president of Westfield State College, ranked 25 colleges based on just that. The survey, called “Saviors of Our Cities: A Survey of Best College and University Civic Partnerships”, looked at schools’ contributions to the towns and cities they’re found in, and which had the best relationships with the residential and business communities in those locations. The top 25 schools were picked based on their positive impacts on their communities, including community service involvement. Another 100 schools were recognized on the survey’s “Honor Roll” of friendly neighbors.

The best neighbors according to Dobelle’s survey were the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California, tied for number one. Neither Westfield nor the two other schools Dobelle was once president at - Trinity College and the University of Hawaii - made the list. Dobelle, a researcher specializing in public/private partnerships, collected his data by sending the survey he composed to schools across the country for distribution in their communities. Some schools were then contacted for on-campus visits or interviews. The University of Pennsylvania was chosen based on its work with schools in West Philadelphia; the University of Southern California got high marks for working on a program that revitalized businesses in Los Angeles.

Other schools that ranked in the top 25 on Dobelle’s list included Tulane University, Portland State University, and the University of Dayton. His specific criteria included real dollars invested, a quantifiable increase in positive recognition of the institution and the length of involvement with the community, among others. Dobelle first came up with the survey in 2006. As colleges are obviously closely linked to their communities in college towns, those schools weren’t considered in the survey in favor of looking at urban universities’ relationships with their towns and cities.

So what do you think? Should the “good neighbor” factor be included in a student’s college search? Do you attend a particularly  neighborly institution? Let us know your thoughts.

Posted: under College Life, College Search, Just for Fun.
Tags: College Life, college rankings, College Search

Comments (0) Oct 13 2009

From best dorm food to greatest contributions to the social good, regardless of the criteria you’re using in your college search, there are likely lists available to help you find the best colleges to fit your needs.  The latest college scorecard to emerge this college application season is the College Sustainability Report Card, an annual publication that grades public and private colleges and universities nationwide on eco-friendliness.  For students who are passionate about the environment and want to attend a college that shares their concerns, this may be a useful list to check out.

The Report Card has been in existence since 2007, when it began grading the schools with the largest endowments on sustainability efforts.  This year, it opened up its survey to other schools, promising to include any institution willing to pay $700 to offset the additional costs of research and reporting.  The 2010 Report Card graded 332 schools, ranging from small private colleges to flagship state universities, with 26 schools earning the highest grade of A-.  Over half of the schools surveyed earned a higher grade this year than last, despite budget cuts brought about by losses in endowments and state funding due to the recession.

In addition to the overall grade, report cards for each institution also feature grades in the following categories:  administration, climate change & energy, food & recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement.  Some of these individual scores may be especially useful elements of the college search for students interested in becoming engaged in their campus communities and contributing to the greening of their colleges.  Low scores can point to things students can help improve (such as implementing recycling programs on campus), and high scores in student involvement can indicate a community of like-minded individuals willing to collaborate to bring about change.

Beyond incorporating sustainability into the criteria you use in choosing a college, eco-minded students may also want to look into the opportunities for green scholarships available.  These awards may point to additional ways to help the planet, and they can also help you pay for school at your green college of choice.

Posted: under College Life, College Search.
Tags: College Life, college rankings, College Search, green scholarships

Comments (0) Oct 08 2009

The Obama health plan isn’t the only hotly debated controversy in which the of the social good is currently being invoked.  College rankings also fall into this category with the release of Washington Monthly’s annual rankings this month, which differ sharply from the better-known U.S. News and World Report rankings, and focus primarily on universities’ contributions to the “social good.”

Washington Monthly publishes two sets of rankings, one for national universities and one for liberal arts colleges, each year.  This year, the top three spots in the magazine’s national university rankings all went to schools in the University of California system: UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, and UC Los Angeles, respectively.  The top three liberal arts colleges were Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, and Williams College.  Amherst and Williams both appeared in U.S. News’ top three, as well, but rankings differed sharply for many of Washington Monthly’s other top schools, which included many state colleges, as opposed to the elite private colleges that dominate U.S. News.

A large part of the drastically different rankings comes from Washington Monthly’s chosen methodology, which asks as much what colleges are doing for the country as it asks what they can do for their students.  This is determined by looking at factors that include student involvement in national service, university involvement in research, and the social mobility attending college gives students.

The service index is achieved by looking at the number of current students involved in ROTC, the Reserve Officer Training Corps, as well as graduate participation in the Peace Corps.  Research is determined by the university’s production of PhD graduates, the number of degree recipients going on to achieve PhDs at other institutions, and other components such as research spending and faculty awards.  The matrix is slightly different for liberal arts college, as many don’t award PhDs and some don’t provide data for all of the research categories.  Social mobility is based on each school’s ability to enroll and graduate needy students, determined by a calculation involving the percentage of students who receive federal Pell Grants and the school’s undergraduate graduation rate.

Washington Monthly provides a more thorough description of their rankings system, as well as the rationale behind their decision to rank colleges, on their College Guide website.  Other magazines participating in the college rankings game include Princeton Review and Forbes Magazine.

Posted: under Back to School, College News, High School, High School News, Tips.
Tags: choosing a college, college news, college rankings, College Search, college tips, community service, Financial Aid, Graduate School, high school students, Tips

Comments (0) Sep 03 2009

Back to school season is also college rankings season, and in addition to well-known lists like those published by U.S. News and Princeton Review, several other organizations publish their own college rankings based on often-overlooked criteria.  One such list was released this week by G.I. Jobs Magazine, naming the top military-friendly schools in the United States.  To make the list, a school must be in the top 15 percent of colleges, universities, and trade schools in the nation when it comes to recruiting and serving military veterans.

This information is timely for many veterans who may be starting their college search after the new Post-9/11 G.I. Bill took effect at the beginning of this month.  Expanded benefits will help more veterans pay for school at more institutions, with funding available for up to the full amount of tuition and fees at the most expensive state college in each state, as well as housing and book allowances.  However veteran students, like other adult students, often need additional support to succeed in college, both where their coursework and their financial aid are concerned.

Rather than just including four-year universities, the military-friendly schools list also features community colleges and trade schools, institutions that attract veterans and other returning students, and that are expected to play an instrumental role in President Obama’s push to increase the number of Americans attending college.

Based on survey responses and published information, G.I. Jobs ranked schools on their committment to recruiting veterans, providing programs for military students, and maintaining overall academic excellence.  The complete list, as well as survey questions and information on methodology can be found on the G.I. Jobs Guide to Military Friendly Schools website.

Posted: under Back to School, College News, Tips.
Tags: Back to School, choosing a college, college news, college rankings, College Search, military, Tips, veterans

Comments (0) Aug 18 2009