US News - Most Efficient Colleges

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<p>Which</a> Highly Ranked Universities Operate Most Efficiently? - Morse Code: Inside the College Rankings (usnews.com)</p>

<p>WAY TO GO SUNY GENESEO - Top Regional University in the NORTH!!! SUNY</a> Geneseo | SUNY Geneseo</p>

<p>Which Highly Ranked Universities Operate Most Efficiently?By Robert Morse, Diane Tolis </p>

<p>December 6, 2012 RSS Feed Print In these times of tight or reduced state budgets, it's important for some colleges to efficiently spend their limited resources in order to produce the highest possible educational quality. U.S. News has developed an exclusive new list showing which schools are able to produce the highest educational quality, as determined by their place in our Best Colleges rankings, but spend relatively less money to achieve that quality.</p>

<p>U.S. News measures financial resources by taking into account how much a school spends per student on instruction, research, student services, and related educational expenditures. Financial resources has a 10 percent weight in the Best Colleges ranking methodology.</p>

<p>The new list is based on operating efficiency, defined as a school's 2011 fiscal year financial resources per student divided by its overall score (the basis U.S. News uses to determine its overall numerical rank) in the 2013 Best Colleges rankings. This calculation reveals how much each school is spending to achieve one point in the overall score and its position in the rankings.</p>

<p>The less a school is spending relative to its ranking, the more efficient it is in producing a quality education among its peers.</p>

<p>How should these results be interpreted? Schools that are featured on this list are doing a good job in managing their financial resources relative to other schools that may have larger state funding, higher tuition, or larger endowments. Many of these schools are likely to be more affordable in terms of tuition relative to others in their ranking category, since almost all of them are public universities.</p>

<p>Only schools that were numerically ranked in the top half of their ranking category in the Best Colleges 2013 rankings were included in this analysis. Additionally, only the categories that had a significant proportion of both public and private universities were considered.</p>

<p>The tables below show the universities that score highest on the operating efficiency measure. These are the schools that are providing a high quality education while spending relatively less than their peers to achieve it. Note: A school's overall rank is partly based on a two-year average of expenditures per student; the financial resources figures displayed below reflect only the most recent year.</p>

<p>National Universities</p>

<p>School name (state) U.S. News National Universities rank Financial resources per student (FY 2011)
Florida State University 97 $17,731
Brigham Young University--Provo (UT) 68 $20,441
Miami University--Oxford (OH) 89 $19,091
University of Alabama 77 $20,288
College of William and Mary (VA) 33 $27,572
Colorado School of Mines 77 $21,417
University of Missouri 97 $21,226
Binghamton University--SUNY (NY) 89 $22,181
Indiana University--Bloomington 83 $22,806
Ohio University 131 $18,983
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey--Newark 115 $20,801
University of Georgia 63 $27,028
Clemson University (SC) 68 $26,293
University of South Carolina 115 $21,389
Virginia Tech 72 $26,261
Clark University (MA) 83 $25,073
Duquesne University (PA) 120 $21,216
University of Oregon 115 $21,749
Texas Christian University 92 $24,486
Missouri University of Science & Technology 125 $21,044 </p>

<p>Regional Universities (North)</p>

<p>School name (state) U.S. News Regional Universities (North) rank Financial resources per student (FY 2011)
SUNY--Geneseo (NY) 10 $15,383
Salisbury University (MD) 47 $10,497
Towson University (MD) 44 $12,018
College of New Jersey 6 $22,625
University of Scranton (PA) 10 $20,059 </p>

<p>Regional Universities (South)</p>

<p>School name (state) U.S. News Regional Universities (South) rank Financial resources per student (FY 2011)
James Madison University (VA) 6 $13,480
Appalachian State University (NC) 10 $13,576
University of Mary Washington (VA) 16 $13,338
College of Charleston (SC) 11 $14,253
Belmont University (TN) 7 $16,894 </p>

<p>Regional Universities (West)</p>

<p>School name (state) U.S. News Regional Universities (West) rank Financial resources per student (FY 2011)
California Polytechnic State University--San Luis Obispo 6 $16,159
California State University--Long Beach 28 $11,561
Western Washington University 27 $12,547
California State University--Fullerton 31 $11,855
Gonzaga University (WA) 4 $21,794 </p>

<p>Regional Universities (Midwest)</p>

<p>School name (state) U.S. News Regional Universities (Midwest) rank Financial resources per student (FY 2011)
Truman State University (MO) 8 $12,002
University of Wisconsin--La Crosse 24 $11,318
University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire 31 $12,078
University of Wisconsin--Whitewater 49 $10,951
Drake University (IA) 3 $20,029 </p>

<p>The financial resources per student data above are correct as of Dec. 6, 2012.</p>

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<p>I think a lot of colleges have taken steep budget cuts in the past few years. It would be more useful to see spending over time, instead of a recent snapshot. Sometimes it takes a few years for rankings to slide after colleges make cuts. Things like cutting financial aid, reduced spending on career center, adding more adjunct teachers vs. tenured profs, letting facilities maintenance slide, etc. don’t show up for a few years, and can affect rankings. So seeing spending averages over say the last 6-7 years vs. ranking points might provide more information, instead of just the one year snapshot of 2011 spending.</p>

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<p>That’s a very good point, intparent.</p>

<p>I’d like to give a shout-out to William and Mary for scoring so highly on this measure - the highest, in fact, at $27,572 per student. (Although I am suspicious of rankings, USNews and otherwise). That figure is less than the cost of attendance (including room, board, books, and incidentals) for instate students, making W&M a tremendous bargain for VA attendees. And, as the parent of two OOS grads, I believe the high cost for OOS students is worth the education received there, provided you can swing it. It was worth sacrificing for, in our family.</p>

<p>The spirit of efficiency is seen in the salary paid to the President, Taylor Reveley. He earns less than $400K per year which, in comparison with the guys in the article below, seems darned reasonable. As far as we can tell, he’s doing an exceptional job leading the school through increasingly tough economic times - less state money each year, of course. Last year the president of George Mason, another public VA school, earned more than twice as much. [The</a> 14 Highest Paid Public University Presidents In Fiscal Year 2011](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>The 14 Highest Paid Public University Presidents In Fiscal Year 2011 | HuffPost College)</p>

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<p>Interesting. Our kids applied to 4 of the schools listed above. All 4 of those come in as the most expensive schools on their list, state schools compared to the less expensive private schools they applied to. More efficient for whom?</p>

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<p>Were your kids were OOS for those expensive public schools? OOS students pay more than in-state, of course. For us, the decision came down to the best fit within our budget. Certainly there are less expensive options than OOS at most of the schools above.</p>

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<p>frazzled1, I totally agree with you. In fact, given the pitiful financial support the state of Virginia provides to higher ed, seeing TWO Virginia state schools on this list, Virginia Tech being the other, is quite a feat.</p>

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<p>frazzled1–yes, but those OOS costs were less then our in-state publics with various reciprocity agreements. The private schools were all out of state as well and started at twice the cost of the most expensive state school they applied to.</p>