If USNews would simply replace the school counselor academic rep survey with a student survey of undergraduates – gathering info on perceived rigor, overall academic quality, professor interaction and availability, classroom discussion dynamics, research/internship opportunities, course availability, and overall academic satisfaction – that would help.
Also, reiterate and make sure the deans/provosts/college presidents understand what their job is on their academic rep ratings: you do rate schools you are familiar with, on their undergraduate academic quality; you neither rate schools you are unfamiliar with, nor based on grad-level prestige. (we don’t know that they do the latter, but they might if they get lazy…)