Held accountable: the kind of school that should fear Obama's college rankings.

• Author: Connolly, Matt
• Position: Ferrum College

As far as you can tell by just walking around its campus, Ferrum is a typical small, private, residential liberal arts college. Founded by Methodists in 1913, it sits on 700 bucolic acres bordering a pretty lake in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in southwest Virginia. Many of its students will tell you that they are at least satisfied with the campus life Ferrum offers, which includes small class sizes, majors in thirty-three different fields, some sixty clubs, and a vibrant sports culture anchored by its Division III football team, the Panthers.

Yet by many important measures, Ferrum ranks among the worst colleges in America. Its students borrow more, default on their loans more, and graduate less than do students at almost all other comparable institutions. Ferrum proves that you can't judge schools just by appearances, and that even low-quality schools have fans.

A first cautionary statistic about Ferrum is the large number of students who leave. Barely half of its freshmen remain for more than a year. Partly this reflects the school's liberal admissions policy. It accepts more than 90 percent of all applicants, and the entering class has a high school grade point average of just 2.75, meaning that many students arrive on campus poorly prepared. About a third of the student body is African American, and 4 percent is Hispanic.

Many are also the first in their families to go to college. "A lot of them go back home," says Ferrum spokeswoman Kym Davis. "They don't think to go back to college." Yet there are other private nonprofit liberal arts colleges, such as Albertus Magnus College in New Haven or Nyack College in New York, that have similar student demographics and do a better job holding down dropout rates and producing graduates. So do many community colleges that cost far less money.

Another factor behind Ferrum's high dropout rate is its football program. Out of an entering class of about 560, roughly 100 come to Ferrum thinking that they will play for the Panthers. But the team only has 100 players, including upperclassmen. School officials say that all students know they'll have to compete for a slot on the team. But, adds Kim Blair, vice president for institutional advancement, "football for many Division III schools is an enrollment strategy," and Ferrum's program isn't any different from those of the other schools in its conference.

Quinten Carter, who chose Ferrum after hitting it off with the college's football...