While Other Rankings Obsess Over Elite Universities, the Washington Monthly Releases New Lists That Focus on Colleges That Serve Non-wealthy Students and Their Communities

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- While much of the media convulses over politics on our nation's most elite campuses, the Washington Monthly today releases innovative new rankings that shine a spotlight on a different class of schools, ones that produce the greatest share of four-year degrees and actually serve everyday Americans: regional public universities.  

These are the schools with "State" in the name, unknown to much of the country but revered in their communities. U.S. News & World Report lists only three regional public schools among its top 100 national universities; 16 make it into the Washington Monthly's top 100, including Fresno State (#22), Florida Atlantic University (#41), and Montclair State (#57). Whereas news in the past year has focused on Gaza protests and DEI drama at elite universities, the Monthly's rankings focus on schools that help non-wealthy students get ahead in life while serving their country and communities.

Since 2005, the Washington Monthly has presented an alternative set of benchmarks for what "excellence" is in higher education, ones that measure what colleges do for their country, instead of for themselves. Rather than reward institutions for their wealth, fame, and exclusivity, the Monthly evaluates them on their commitment to three goals: social mobility, research, and public service.

That methodology leads to notable differences from the U.S. News rankings among national universities:

• Florida International University, #16 on the Monthly list, is #124 in the U.S. News rankings.
• Utah State University, #54 on the Monthly list, is #269 in the U.S. News rankings.
• Tulane University, #429 on the Monthly list, is #73 in the U.S. News rankings.
• Baylor University, #363 in the Monthly list, is #93 in the U.S. News rankings.

Regional universities also dominate the upper echelons, and elite schools the lowest, in an innovative new ranking the Monthly is unveiling, "America's Best and Worst Colleges for Master's Degrees." This new list—the first ever to compare median debt to median income five years after graduation for popular master's programs—reveals that some of the best-known universities in the country are offering grad students the worst deals. A master's degree in nursing from Yale, for instance, will leave you $118,849 in debt, on average, whereas you'll borrow only $23,302 for the same degree from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and earn slightly more five years later ($133,871 versus $128,563 for Yalies). Information like this can't be found on U.S. News's popular "Best Graduate Schools" guide, because that ranking mostly ignores how much programs cost or how much debt students tend to graduate with, relying instead on an insider survey measuring prestige.

The magazine also debuts another first-of-its-kind ranking, "America's Best and Worst Colleges for Women in STEM," which rates undergraduate STEM programs by the percentage of their graduates who are women. Some of the nation's most selective universities produce huge percentages of female scientists and engineers, which undermines the ready-made excuses other schools give for their low percentages, including that women lack interest or ability.

The Monthly's college guide features a "Best Bang for the Buck" ranking of colleges in each region, rewarding schools that help students from all economic backgrounds attain degrees that will serve them well in life without breaking the bank. Schools like those in the Cal State system (Los Angeles, Dominguez Hills, Stanislaus), Berea College, and Governors State University top these rankings despite being ignored or underappreciated by other magazines' lists.

On other Washington Monthly rankings this year, regional publics also dominate. Elizabeth City State, a historically Black university in North Carolina, is #4 among the best bachelor's universities, and SUNY Geneseo is the top master's school.

The 2024 college guide also includes feature stories that investigate:

• How regional colleges provide states with exceptional return on taxpayer dollars. Whereas graduates of flagship universities often leave for jobs in distant cities, those of regional universities typically settle down and build careers within the state. Yet regionals receive far less government funding.
• Why the teaching is better at regional universities than at highly selective schools, and how to make all college professors better at their most important job.
• How elite colleges, such as Northwestern University, leverage their brand name to sign up students for master's degrees with astronomical debt and low career earnings—and why the federal government does nothing to stop it.
• How Northern Arizona University's visionary new president has earned national acclaim for promoting social mobility over the pursuit of prestige.
• How to turn "remedial education" from a dead end to a launchpad of success.

"Washington's obsession with elite colleges is warping our politics by aggravating the large and growing political divide between those with a college education and those without," warns Washington Monthly editor in chief Paul Glastris. "In the past year, higher ed has dealt with tone-deaf college presidents, threats from Project 2025, the defunding of DEI offices, and the unpredictable politics of student loan forgiveness. But as the Washington Monthly's 2024 college guide and rankings show, there are hundreds of great schools out there, many of them regional public universities, that are achieving the real purpose of college: helping students of modest means earn affordable degrees that lead to good incomes and encouraging them to be informed and active citizens of our democracy."  

The Washington Monthly is a nonprofit devoted to ahead-of-the-curve coverage of politics, government, and public affairs. Its college guide, first published in 2005, has won the Education Writers Association Award for data journalism. Founded in 1969, the Monthly has trained and published many of the biggest names in journalism, including Jon Meacham, Nicholas Lemann, Katherine Boo, and Nicholas Confessore.

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