by our College Data Analytics TeamThe goal of the College Factual Best Colleges Ranking is to measure the educational quality a student will receive at a specific college, relative to all the other colleges in the United States.
Helping students make better decisions with their money is our number one priority. The following are the beliefs that lie at the root of our ranking philosophy.
Objective: Unbiased and driven by hard data, not subjective surveys.
Bottom-Up: A school is a collection of many individual programs that can vary widely in quality. We assess each specific major and degree level offering at a school individually and then aggregate those scores up to assess the school as a whole.
Outcome-Focused: Schools must prepare students for success.
Customizable: One size does NOT fit all and so we offer many ways for a student to identify the best fit for them.
Our team of data scientists uses open government data at the major + degree level combined with school-wide indicators to assess each specific program a school offers and rank them accordingly.
We then aggregate those details rankings up, weighted by the number of students, to get broader assessments of a school overall. In this way, for a school to be given a good ‘overall’ Best Colleges Ranking it must be excellent at whatever it chooses to focus on.
The core of our college data comes from The Institute of Education Sciences (IES). This branch of the United States Department of Education (DOE) is the nation’s premier source for research, evaluation, and statistics that helps educators, policymakers, and stakeholders improve outcomes for all students. The college data comes specifically from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the IES.
Our list of majors is based on the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) from the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) branch of the United States Department of Education (DOE). The CIP is a taxonomy of instructional programs that provides a classification system for the thousands of different programs offered by postsecondary institutions. Its purpose is to facilitate the organization, collection, and reporting of fields of study and program completions.
For more details, please see our Data Sources & References page.
Our Best Colleges Ranking is made up of 8 high-level scores, each of which incorporates many factors that make up that score. Below is an overview of each of those scores and its general level of impact on the final ranking.
| Indicator | Description | Factor Highlights | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accreditation Score | Has the school been successfully vetted by independent, trusted accreditors? | Regional, National & Program Specific Accreditations | Very High |
| Demand Score | Is this school in-demand by the market (students)? | Matriculation Rate, Completions | Medium |
| Breadth & Depth Score | To what extent does the school focus on this and related programs? | Program & Related Program Focus | Med-Low |
| Peer Score | Will your fellow students be an asset to your education? | Test Scores, Student Diversity | Low |
| Education Score | Does the school invest in its program and have the educational outcomes to show for it? | Graduation Rate, Student/Faculty Ratio, Faculty Pay, Educational Investments & Focus | Medium |
| Employment Score | Are graduates of this school in demand by the workforce? | Post-Graduation Employment Rate | Med |
| Earnings Score | Do graduates make more or less than other graduates in the same program category? | Post-Graduation Median Earnings | High |
| Debt Score | Will this school leave you with more debt than you can pay back? | Student Loan Debt, Default Rate, Repayment Rate | Medium |
At some level, this category can be thought of as an on/off switch. While we technically rank all institutions we have data for, an institution that lacks regional accreditation will not be able to score well in this factor. Other forms of accreditation are evaluated, including national and program specific accreditation, but regional accreditation drives the majority of this factor.
Market demand for institutions is an important signal of quality still and the larger more in-demand products attract the top applicants.
Student Migration (Low) - Students who are willing to travel from out of state and internationally are a powerful signal for demand. These students must often pay an additional premium to attend an institution. This factor looks at the average distance (geo-centered) students travel to attend each institution.
Matriculation Score (Medium) - This factor measures undergraduate matriculation as reported to IPEDS. Matriculation being the percentage of students who accept an offer from the institution to attend. This factor is far superior to one that just looks at student applications and institutional acceptance rates as those metrics are only a proxy for intent and can be manipulated by marketing. If this factor is reported by an institution, it is included in both graduate and undergraduate rankings. If an institution does not provide undergraduate degrees this factor is excluded and has no bearing on an institution’s graduate ranking.
Degrees Granted (High) - Institutions that graduate more students in their given major are recognized for this. Note that this factor does not operate in a vacuum that assumes “more is universally better” and is offset by factors such as student to faculty ratio. However, we think that all else being equal, a school with a large program in a given major is going to have a critical mass of resources dedicated to it and result in a large network of students in your field to graduate into.
Degree offerings that are showcased by an institution and complemented by similar offerings both within the award level but also across award levels are recognized by this category. This factor will allow a smaller music conservatory to compare well to a similarly sized music program at a much larger institution.
Degree Focus (Low) - An evaluation of the contribution of this degree to all graduations at the institution. The more specialized an institution is, the better they will score.
Major Peer Score (High) - Similar degrees that are offered by this institution will impact the score of this degree. A degree in “Nursing Practice” for example offered at an institution with a high ranking degree in “Registered Nursing” will potentially be boosted by this factor.
Program Peer Score (medium) - Similar to the above but with an evaluation of all degrees offered under the umbrella of “Nursing” contributing to the final score.
We focus on outcomes in this ranking, but there is something to be said for the caliber of the student body and who you surround yourself with. Students dedicated to learning challenge each other and themselves to grow and excel. These students can also become lasting and valuable career connections later in life.
Average Test Scores (Medium) - The average of the 25th and 75th percentile Math and Reading SAT scores as reported by IPEDS is calculated. Where ACT score is reported instead, the same calculation is performed using the composite score and a formula to convert that score to an equivalent SAT score.
Student Diversity (Low) - Being exposed to diverse thinking and having a diverse network has its benefits and so we consider how ethnically/racially diverse the undergraduate student body is. By diverse, we do not mean simply non-Caucasian, rather we mean a significant mix of all races and ethnicities.
The more resources a college can dedicate to supporting students' educational goals the better.
Average Faculty Compensation (Medium) - Competitive salaries and benefits can attract the best of the best to a college or university. (Compensation is adjusted for cost of living.)
Expenditures per Student (Medium) - This is focused on spending that can directly benefit students, such as instruction, academic support, research, and student services.
Student to Faculty Ratio (Low) - The student to faculty ratio measures how many students each instructional faculty member must support on average. The lower the ratio, the more potential there is for individualized attention when needed.
Percent Full-Time Teachers (Low) - This metric looks at all instructional employees, including adjuncts, to get a more complete measure of how many teachers are focused on full-time instruction at a given college.
This set of factors looking at educational resources does not consider how much a student will be paying to receive those resources, rather it focuses on what they get. To take into account what a student gets relative to what they have to pay for it, please see our Best Colleges for the Money ranking for exactly that.
A school can be doing a lot of things right, but if few of its students actually graduate and achieve their goal of getting a degree, does it matter?
Freshmen Retention Rate (High) - The higher the number of freshmen returning to the same school for sophomore year, the more likely these students were satisfied with the school, and the more likely the college or university is successfully supporting its freshmen students.
6 Year Graduation Rate (High) - This measures the percent of students that started as freshmen and graduated with their four-year degree from a given school within six years after starting. The higher the rate of graduation, the more likely the college is delivering on its promise of a higher education, and students are receiving the support they need to successfully complete their degree.
Expected vs. Actual Graduation Rate (Low) - Colleges with highly selective acceptance rates are also more likely to have higher graduation rates. This can speak to the caliber of the students and not necessarily to the educational prowess of the school. This metric calculates the expected graduation rate, based on the students that enrolled at the college. A higher than expected graduation rate is indicative that a school is doing a proportionally better job at graduating students, regardless of that students' academic standing upon acceptance to the college or university.
With a degree in hand, will a student get a job? These measures look at those students that attended the school and are no longer enrolled and whether or not they are employed varying numbers of years after entry or completion (depending on the metric).
College-Wide Employment Rate (Low) - We look at cohorts of students 1 to 4 years after completion and 6 to 11 years after entry and their respective employment rates. The more recently graduated / entered cohorts are weighted more highly as we believe the degree has the biggest impact on employment the more recently it was obtained. As the time after graduation increases, other factors begin to have greater impact (experience, etc.) and so the further out the cohort is the progressively less it is weighted.
Program/Major Employment Rate (High) - We look at the average employment rate of students graduating from program in that specific major category and that particular degree level. That is the most important factor. We then also, to lesser degrees, look at the employment rate for students in all degree levels for that major and the degree-level and all degree-level rates for the program area as a whole at the school (CIP2).
IMPORTANT NOTE: For this factor, as well as the ones that follow, we make sure we are comparing apples to apples by scoring a specific major at a school against that same major at other schools, thus making sure we are not comparing something like teaching to petroleum engineering, an unfair comparison at best. In this way we get to the root of how well a school does in delivering results for the students it has chosen to serve, not simply which offers programs with high earning potential.
How much a student of the same major at different schools earns after 1 year, 2 years, …. 11 years after starting or completing a degree can vary dramatically. This measure seeks to highlight which school’s students earn the most in their chosen field after attending the school.
College-Wide Average Earnings (Low) - We look at cohorts of students 1, 4 and 5 years after completion as well as 6 to 11 years after entry to the school and the average earnings that are reported for students of those cohorts for the school as a whole.
Program/Major Average Earnings (High) - This metric compares the salaries earned by students in each major + degree level at a college and calculates how much more, or less, money those students make when compared to students graduating with the same major + degree level at other colleges. To lesser degrees we also consider the earnings reported across all degree levels for that major as well as those reported for broader program areas (ie. look at all health professions in addition to just nursing).
At the end of the day, what matters less is the cost of the education so much as whether or not the degree will help a student level up to a higher income level and be able to successfully pay off the debt they incurred. These factors look at to what extent this is true for students at the school.
Student Loan Default Rate (High) - Students who default on loans may not have been provided with a sufficient education, or a sufficient degree, compared to the cost of obtaining it. The lower the default rate on student loans the better.
Student Loan Delinquency Rate (Medium-High) - Similarly, students that become delinquent in paying off their student loans is a negative sign for the ROI of their degree.
Student Loans w/ No Progress (Medium) - While a student might be able to make minimum payments, if they are not actually making any progress paying down their loan then they are barely breaking even from an ROI perspective.
Student Loans Making Progress (Medium) - Students actively making progress paying off their student loans is a good thing.
Student Loans Paid in Full (Medium-Low) - Students that have fully paid off their loans is even better.
Student Loan Amount of Debt Repaid (Medium-Low) - This factor looks not at the percentage of borrowers that are in various statuses and instead looks at all students in a given cohort and determines what percentage of their total original loan balances have been paid off. For some schools and cohorts the aggregate balance of all the student loans is more than the original principal, which is not a good sign and represents a balance that is increasing faster than the students can pay it off.
Student Loan Debt Load (Low) - This factor compares the average degree and award specific graduation debt. The more debt the typical graduate has on degree completion, the lower their score. While we do think the loan balance is less important than the ability to pay that balance off, with all else being equal, a school that saddles their students with more debt on average is less desirable.
All of the above debt score factors are looked at both at the college-wide and individual major levels for multliple cohorts of students, similar to how the employment and earnings scores are calculated above.