President Obama has unveiled a new ranking system that will grade colleges based on accountability and affordability. The plan is that these rankings will determine the amount of federal aid given to colleges by 2018. Currently, federal aid is based solely on the number of students a college enrolls.
So how does Harvard score? Well, according to the New York Times, colleges will be ranked on the following criteria:
- “Tuition”: According to Obama’s own scorecard, a Harvard education is the lowest of the Ivies. What’s more, 81 percent of attendees receive financial aid, 66 percent of it (courtesy of the fattest endowment in higher ed) coming from Harvard itself. The price actually decreased by over 15 percent between 2007 and 2009.
- “Graduation Rates”: Harvard has a slightly lower four-year graduation rate than you might think: 87 percent. The college is known for grade inflation and numerous informal discussions have confirmed the general impression that Harvard students are worried more about the chance of getting a B- than an F. This is in stark contrast to many institutions where there is a higher chance that students will fail out and a high percentage will graduate in six years.
- “Debt”: While students do graduate with debt, the generous financial aid packages reduce this number.
- “Earnings of Graduates”: Harvard’s strong ties to profitable industries buoy this stat. Basically, if you average the salaries with all the grads who go to the Street, Harvard does quite well.
- “Percentage of lower-income students who attend”: Harvard is well-known for courting students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. While people have argued the focus is too much on race rather than income, there is no doubt Harvard educates a sizeable number from disadvantaged backgrounds.
So, Harvard looks good in both US News & World Report and the Obama Scorecard. Paradoxically, Harvard probably is among the less efficient institutions because there are so many resources available for each student, and the institution also supports a wide array of Olympic sports. But when your endowment is over $32 billion, being efficient isn’t necessarily your primary concern. It will be much more challenging for other colleges to attract the top students and advertise themselves as a good value.
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