Money can’t buy us love, but it could buy Georgetown a better U.S. News and World Report ranking. Since 1983, the magazine has published a list of the country’s “best” colleges, fueling college-application fervor nationwide. This month, U.S. News ranked Georgetown 23rd for the second straight year. Whether or not Hoyas admit it, most are dissatisfied with that number. When it comes to college rankings, a school’s financial resources play a big part.But because Georgetown’s endowment and alumni giving trail behind those of other schools, the University lags unfairly behind in the rankings.
Unfortunately, U.S. News paints an inaccurate picture of higher education by placing far too much weight on financial resources per student, alumni-giving rate and faculty salaries. Aspects of the formula that measure the quality of incoming students, student satisfaction, and student performance after graduation are either weighted inadequately or are not factored into the rankings at all.
Georgetown, which has a small endowment compared to other schools of its caliber, has suffered in the rankings because 35 percent of the U.S. News ranking is based on monetary measures. Faculty resources (20 percent), which include salaries and the number of full-time professors, per-student spending (10 percent), and alumni giving (5 percent), are three areas where Georgetown struggles in comparison to other top-notch schools.
U.S. News placed Georgetown behind Vanderbilt and Notre Dame, schools that most Hoyas would consider academically inferior. However, what those schools lack in reputation, they make up for in hard cash. According to U.S. News, Vanderbilt boasts the 10th best faculty resources in the country while half of Notre Dame’s alumni donate to their alma mater, giving them fourth place in U.S. News’ alumni giving rank.
By contrast, Georgetown has the 38th best faculty resources, which includes faculty salary, and the 23rd best alumni giving.Instead of touting the economic exploits of schools, U.S. News should take into account the quality of students coming into colleges, how happy they are once they’re on campus and how much success they have after graduation.
It’s inherently impossible to accurately rank the quality of classroom instruction, and every ranking system will leave some schools displeased. Nevertheless, no top-tier school is even close to verging on financial ruin, so the money in the bank doesn’t truly correlate with the educational benefits enjoyed by students.
Even now, the ranking news isn’t all bad. Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews recently named Georgetown the “Hottest Big-City School” in a list of the nation’s 25 Hottest Schools that was published in the most recent issue of Newsweek. Mr. Mathews, at least, understands that money isn’t everything. Hopefully prospective Hoyas understand it too.
