Local colleges get some love in annual college rankings

We’ve been writing a lot about college prestige, rankings and what they mean when choosing a school. Even though attending a highly ranked college or university is no guarantee of future success, many students and parents use these rankings as a starting point for their college search.

Today, U.S. News released its list of America’s Best Colleges for 2014. Some publications have criticized the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings of America’s top colleges for putting too much emphasis on prestige and not enough on affordability, but these rankings are still widely respected and cited.

The overall rankings are broken down into 4 categories: National Universities, National Liberal Arts Colleges, Regional Universities, and Regional Colleges. Princeton University takes home the top ranking for National Universities, while Williams College grabbed the top spot in the Liberal Arts College rankings.

Several local colleges got some love from U.S. News this year, including SUNY Geneseo, which was ranked the #2 public university in the North region. SUNYs Brockport, Fredonia, Oneonta, Cortland, and Oswego were not far behind, all ranking in the top 20.

Following along the lines of the Washington Monthly’s rankings based on affordability and quality, U.S. News also released a list of the best value colleges for 2014. Several local and Western New York colleges made the North regional list, including Alfred University (#3), Rochester Institute of Technology (#4), St. Bonaventure (#5), Canisius College (#7), and Niagara University (#12). Despite their high sticker prices, these colleges provide significant financial aid to help students afford college.

We’re glad to see some local colleges finally receive some national recognition for offering a quality education at an affordable price. Of course, all rankings should be taken with a grain of salt, but the “Best Value” rankings provide great insight into how much you’ll actually end up paying for college after financial aid is taken into account.

We love helping students and families find great schools that they can afford without taking on a mountain of debt. If you want to learn how we can help you, give us a call toll-free at 1-888-234-3907 or send us a message.