AMERICA'S BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK COLLEGES: Our one-of-a-kind list of schools that help non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.

AuthorKelchen, Robert

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on students and colleges will be felt for a generation to come. Many colleges lost much of their financial reserves as campuses emptied out for months and students returned under expensive social distancing and sanitizing protocols. Lower-income families were hit harder by the pandemic. Many less wealthy Americans lost their jobs, and many lost their lives, especially if they were blue-collar employees who could not work from home. Finally, enrollment fell sharply over the past year, with the largest declines among racial minorities, lower-income students, and men.

These factors have made it more important than ever for colleges to demonstrate their value to students and society as a whole. For the 10th year, we produced a ranking of Best Bang for the Buck colleges, which is laser focused on showing which colleges do a good job promoting social mobility--and which don't. The rankings are broken down by region, beginning on page 44. (We used the same data and methodology to create the social mobility portion of the main rankings, which begin on page 54; the methodology is explained on page 96.)

The Best Bang for the Buck colleges across each of the five regions are primarily the unsung heroes of American higher education: colleges with strong regional reputations that serve large numbers of students from low-income families and help them graduate and succeed in the labor market. A few of America's wealthiest colleges also make appearances near the top of the lists, but many colleges with billion-dollar endowments lag far behind. In the Northeast, the Massachusetts Maritime Academy takes top billing, followed by the City University of New York's Baruch College, MIT, and Rutgers-Newark. RutgersNewark graduates 71 percent of its students and enrolls far more Pell Grant recipients than expected. Its students are able to start quickly repaying their loans.

In the South and Midwest, Berea College and College of the Ozarks maintain their top rankings thanks to their economic diversity, relatively strong graduation rates, and commitment to meeting students' financial need. The University of Illinois and Texas A&M flagship campuses are second in their respective regions and both graduate more than 1,000 Pell recipients each year. Vanderbilt, Rice, and Northwestern all appear in the top 10 due to strong outcomes for the modest number of lower-income students they serve.

In the Southeast, the University of South Florida's Sarasota-Manatee campus edges out the University of Florida and James Madison University for top billing, with Appalachian State University aptly representing regional public universities. Out west, the California State University system tightened its grip on the top of the rankings, grabbing seven of the top 10 spots and 18 of the top 30 positions. When net prices are generally below $10,000 per year, students make strong progress repaying their loans, and students graduate at high rates across the system, it is hard for other universities to compete.

We only display the top 50 colleges in print. Online, we list the full 200-plus colleges per region. Toward the bottom of those rankings, we find a mix of middling public and private nonprofit colleges along with a number of for-profit college chains. Here at the Monthly, we like to shine the spotlight on colleges with the resources to do better. Take, for example, Tulane University, which ranked 205 among 211 colleges in the South despite an endowment of nearly $1.5 billion. While much of a university's endowment is restricted to be used for purposes stated by donors, Tulane still has enough money floating around to improve.

Robert Kelchen, a professor of education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is data manager of the Washington Monthly College Guide.

BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK MIDWEST COLLEGES * Public institution * For-profit institution 8-year Gradua- gradua- tion tion rate rate rank 1 COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS (MO) 68% 11 2 University of IL-Urbana-Champaign (IL) * 86% 23 3 Mount Mercy University (IA) 69% 42 4 National Louis University (IL) 58% 270 5 University of Notre Dame (IN) 96% 3 6 Milwaukee School of Engineering (WI) 64% 84 7 Northwestern University (IL) 94% 4 8 University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI) * 86% 25 9 Dordt University (IA) 68% 12 10 Gustavus Adolphus College (MN) 81% 87 11 MO Univ. of Science & Technology (MO) * 68% 174 12 St. Olaf College (MN) 88% 39 13 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (MI) * 92% 10 14 University of Illinois--Chicago (IL) * 67% 194 15 Wisconsin Lutheran College (WI) 63% 29 16 Ohio Northern University (OH) 75% 2 17 Univ. of Minnesota-Crookston (MN) * 53% 117 18 College of Saint Benedict (MN) 83% 69 19 University of Northern Iowa (IA) * 66% 62 20 Loras College (IA) 69% 9 21 Michigan State University (MI) * 80% 50 22 Lake Superior State University (MI) * 67% 14 23 Univ. of Minnesota-Duluth (MN) * 61% 108 24 Carleton College (MN) 94% 19 25 Univ. of Wisconsin-Platteville (WI) * 53% 212 26 Univ. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI) * 64% 80 27 Grinnell College (IA) 87% 46 28 Beloit College (WI) 8l% 83 29 Purdue University-Main (IN) * 72% 131 30 Truman State University (MO) * 71% 27 31 Iowa State University (IA) * 72% 137 32 University of Minnesota-Twin 79% 61 Cities (MN) * 33 Taylor University (IN) 77% 1 34 Trine Univ.-Regional/Non- 66% 65 Traditional (IN) 35 Indiana University-Bloomington (IN) * 78% 73 36 Saint Mary's College (IN) 79% 101 37 Washington University in St. Louis (MO) 93% 8 38 Univ. of Wisconsin-La Crosse (WI) * 68% 45 39 Illinois State University (IL) * 73% 120 40 University of Chicago (IL) 93% 6 41 Univ. of Wisconsin-Whitewater (WI) * 63% 89 42 Univ. of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (WI) * 64% 85 43 Michigan Technological University (MI) * 68% 176 44 Northwestern College (IA) 65% 21 45 Univ. of Nebraska-Kearney (NE) * 57% 160 46 Bradley University (IL) 74% 15 47 Augustana University (SD) 73% 22 48 University of Wisconsin-Stout (WI) * 58% 150 49 Bethel University (IN) 67% 54 50 Wheaton College (IL) 89% 36 Predicted gradua- tion rate based on percent of Pell- Gradua- reci- tion pients, rate incoming perfor- SATs, mance etc. rank 1 COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS (MO) 49% 6 2 University of IL-Urbana-Champaign (IL) * 79% 35 3 Mount Mercy University (IA) 54% 12 4 National Louis University (IL) 41% 4 5 University of Notre Dame (IN) 91% 80 6 Milwaukee School of Engineering (WI) 71% 321 7 Northwestern University (IL) 93% 155 8 University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI) * 79% 60 9 Dordt University (IA) 63% 93 10 Gustavus Adolphus College (MN) 76% 81 11 MO Univ. of Science & Technology (MO) * 64% 83 12 St. Olaf College (MN) 85% 104 13 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (MI) * 90% 125 14 University of Illinois--Chicago (IL) * 63% 100 15 Wisconsin Lutheran College (WI) 61% 134 16 Ohio Northern University (OH) 63% 23 17 Univ. of Minnesota-Crookston (MN) * 44% 57 18 College of Saint Benedict (MN) 75% 36 19 University of Northern Iowa (IA) * 63% 124 20 Loras College (IA) 60% 43 21 Michigan State University (MI) * 68% 8 22 Lake Superior State University (MI) * 50% 10 23 Univ. of Minnesota-Duluth (MN) * 64% 247 24 Carleton College (MN) 91% 118 25 Univ. of Wisconsin-Platteville (WI) * 58% 277 26 Univ. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI) * 59% 89 27 Grinnell College (IA) 87% 190 28 Beloit College (WI) 72% 27 29 Purdue University-Main (IN) * 75% 265 30 Truman State University (MO) * 69% 139 31 Iowa State University (IA) * 66% 63 32 University of Minnesota-Twin 75% 88 Cities (MN) * 33 Taylor University (IN) 64% 18 34 Trine Univ.-Regional/Non- 43% 2 Traditional (IN) 35 Indiana University-Bloomington (IN) * 71% 54 36 Saint Mary's College (IN) 71% 39 37 Washington University in St. Louis (MO) 92% 171 38 Univ. of Wisconsin-La Crosse (WI) * 68% 185 39 Illinois State University (IL) * 63% 16 40 University of Chicago (IL) 96% 262 41 Univ. of Wisconsin-Whitewater (WI) * 59% 112 42 Univ. of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (WI) * 67% 250 43 Michigan Technological University (MI) * 66% 132 44 Northwestern College (IA) 62% 131 45 Univ. of Nebraska-Kearney (NE) * 56% 161 46 Bradley University (IL) 69% 82 47 Augustana University (SD) 71% 146 48 University of Wisconsin-Stout (WI) * 57% 165 49 Bethel University (IN) 51% 9 50 Wheaton College (IL) 82% 50 Pell/ Pell non- graduate graduate gap rate rank gap 1 COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS (MO) -3% 32 2 University of IL-Urbana-Champaign (IL) * -6% 45 3 Mount Mercy University (IA) 4% 4 4 National Louis University (IL) 22% 1 5 University of Notre Dame (IN) -3% 21 6 Milwaukee School of Engineering (WI) -7% 48 7 Northwestern University (IL) -2% 16 8 University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI) * -7% 58 9 Dordt University (IA) -4% 37 10 Gustavus Adolphus College (MN) -1% 39 11 MO Univ. of Science & Technology (MO) * -12% 186 12 St. Olaf College (MN) -2% 50 13 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (MI) * -7% 52 14 University of Illinois--Chicago (IL) * -5% 34 15 Wisconsin Lutheran College (WI) * 3% 26 16 Ohio Northern University (OH) -16% 244 17 Univ. of Minnesota-Crookston (MN) * -8% 87 18 College of Saint Benedict (MN) -6% 127 19 University of Northern Iowa (IA) * -5% 35 20 Loras College (IA) -9% 98 21 Michigan State University (MI) * -12% 185 22 Lake Superior State University (MI) * -16% 245 23 Univ. of Minnesota-Duluth (MN) * -9% 90 24 Carleton College (MN) -3% 81 25 Univ. of Wisconsin-Platteville (WI) * -9% 88 26 Univ. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI) * -9% 92 27 Grinnell College (IA) 5% 10 28 Beloit College (WI) 4% 12 29 Purdue University-Main (IN) * -10% 128 30 Truman State University (MO) * -9% 103 31 Iowa State University (IA) * -12% 171 32 University of Minnesota-Twin -10% 136 Cities (MN) * 33 Taylor University (IN) -5% 44 34 Trine Univ.-Regional/Non- -21% 342 Traditional (IN) 35 Indiana University-Bloomington (IN) * -12% 181 36 Saint Mary's College (IN) -3% 70 37 Washington University in St. Louis (MO) -3% 20 38 Univ. of Wisconsin-La Crosse (WI) * -12% 155 39 Illinois State University (IL) * -12% 178 40...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT