Continuing their college rating franchise, U.S. News reported recently that it would soon release rankings of on-line college and university programs. This dovetails nicely with its rankings of on-campus programs that fit within defined segments — national public universities, liberal arts colleges, etc.
As a parent of prospective college students some years ago, I read the rankings closely. As a member of a liberal arts faculty during my second career, I realized how closely schools monitor their own rankings — while saying that they really don’t mean much (unless, of course, the school jumps several notches up the chart).
Somewhat limiting is the fact that the U.S. News rankings are all within defined segments — liberal arts colleges are ranked against other liberal arts colleges, national public universities against their own peers, etc.
But when we purchase other high-value products, we look much more broadly at our options. In the case of a car (chump change compared to most higher education investments), we think carefully about how big a car we really need, how much we can afford, whether it will be just a means of basic transportation or be suitable for ferrying clients, will the estimated mileage favor a purchase or lease, should we look at a good used car, etc. Once we determine whether we need a compact car or a luxury sedan, we then turn to a more detailed analysis of automobiles in that category.
It seems to me that U.S. News could really add value to students and their parents by doing the same thing. Rather than just ranking one liberal arts college over another, it could offer good advice on the costs and effectiveness of various types of higher education — from community colleges to universities, from full-time to work-study options, from on-campus to on-line programs. Ideally, high school guidance counselors would be having these discussions with their students, but I think most of them do not have the full set of facts upon which to base the discussions. U.S. News claims that it does extensive analysis on each school, so why not take that a step further and offer some compelling information to compare the full gamut of educational choices, using mid-point schools in each category as a basis for the comparison?
Once students determine the type of education they want to pursue, then they can turn to the traditional U.S. News rankings to help them decide which school in their chosen category is right for them. Higher education is a product and deserves the same type of analysis that we would apply to any expensive purchase.