AMERICA'S BEST COLLEGES FOR STUDENT VOTING: THE SCHOOLS DOING THE MOST TO TURN STUDENTS INTO CITIZENS.

• Author: Block, Daniel

For decades, students have been among America's least faithful voters. In 2014, only 20 percent of eighteen- to twenty-nine-year-olds cast ballots--a record low, and well below that year's already abysmal national turnout rate of 37 percent. The youth turnout rate in 2016 was 46 percent, much higher than during the midterms, but still 15 percent less than the overall rate and 24 percent less than turnout among people over seventy. It's therefore little wonder that both parties prioritize the issues facing older Americans over the problems facing younger ones.

But if the most recent elections are any indication, that is changing. More than 35 percent of people aged eighteen to twenty-nine voted in 2018--the highest midterm turnout by young Americans ever recorded. This demographic voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, helping propel the party's many House and gubernatorial victories. Democratic presidential aspirants are now foregrounding plans that would make college more affordable and ease, or even erase, the $1.5 trillion in student debt now held by Americans.

The Washington Monthly believes that colleges have a responsibility to inspire students to be active citizens. That's why our rankings have long rewarded schools whose students give back to the country by participating in the military, the Peace Corps, and other forms of national service. Last year, in the lead-up to the midterms, we added another, first-of-its-kind set of metrics: how well colleges encourage their students to vote. We repeated that exercise in this year's rankings.

Because it is impossible to get actual turnout rates for most colleges, we use proxies: we measure which schools take part (and to what degree) in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) at Tufts University, which calculates registration numbers and turnout rates for participating campuses; then we factor in participation in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, which helps schools craft plans to bolster civic engagement. We add this data to the "service" part of our overall ranking, awarding institutions one point for each of five metrics they fulfill. Schools that got a perfect score are listed on the honor roll on page 44. (The specific metrics are located at the bottom of the honor roll.)

These top performers may surprise you. While a few are big-name private colleges, like George Washington University and Brown University, the vast majority are public institutions, many of...