<p>Hmmmm---NU has dropped from 12 to 14 in the 2007 US News Rankings(according to leaked sources-officially comes out tomorrow). Is this justified? What do you believe are the reasons? Does this hurt the NU name and reputation? (This should be interesting...)</p>
<p>“Is this justified?”</p>
<p>-Clearly the data say it is.</p>
<p>“What do you believe are the reasons?”</p>
<p>-If schools are to move up (like Chicago and Cornell), some have to move down.</p>
<p>“Does this hurt the NU name and reputation?”</p>
<p>-The world is over…. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>“Is this justified?”
Perhaps. Indeed, perhaps last year's NU's profs became slightly stupider. Or perhaps last year's class drank too much at the Deuce, and slept through a slew of morning classes. Or perhaps, (more likely,) no students from Medill worked on the USNews article this year.</p>
<p>“What do you believe are the reasons?”
Honestly? If USNews didn't shuffle around the universities (e.g. Uni #10 up two, Uni #5 down two, etc.) it wouldn't sell magazines... Similarly, the World Weekly News still runs stories about "Bat Boy." </p>
<p>“Does this hurt the NU name and reputation?”
Perhaps among those who think that college rankings present objective data... So be it!</p>
<p>I heartily agree... despite the fact that my school jumped a whopping six points lol. Out of that whole list, the only I thing worth paying attention to are the Peer Assessments.</p>
<p>its still pretty good.
and
not that serious</p>
<p>Is this justified?</p>
<p>-Is anything in USNews ever justified? Take a look at their hilarious justifications for irrelevant criteria. </p>
<p>What do you believe are the reasons?</p>
<p>-With Chicago, they determined along with the USNews staff that they were under-reporting financial resources and that freshman writing seminars count as classes. With Cornell, just random fluctuation. I give 50-50 odds that you guys switch again next year.</p>
<p>Does this hurt the NU name and reputation?</p>
<p>-No. If anyone looks askance at the rank, they'll see two huge name-brand schools right below and think the NU must be really awesome (which it is, though not becasue of that). NU's reputation is safe due to the amazing specialty schools and the strength of the various departments. No one cares if it goes up or down a spot or two.</p>
<p>uchicago reps actually met with the editors of usnews and they basically worked together on how to improve their ranking</p>
<p>people....rankings really dont mean that much in a year when you at whatever school conspiracy theories and 2 or 3 spots of differences WONT MATTER</p>
<p>it's not a conspiracy theory, i can copy the chicago tribune article talking about it to here if you want</p>
<p>Considering that Northwestern is one of the few schools that doesn't give merit aid, I think that Northwestern is in an elite group regardless of its exact position in US News. Basically, the Ivys, Stanford, MIT, Cal Tech and Northwestern don't give merit aid. While Duke, University of Chicago, Wash U, Hopkins, Emory and Vanderbilt all feel they need to in order to attract the best students (while taking money away which could be used to give more aid to financially needy students). I know which group I'd rather be associated with.</p>
<p>good point</p>
<p>Yay for..... need based aid?!..... um, ok.... :)</p>
<p>From the Harvard Civil Rights Project "Who Should We Help? The Negative Social Consequences of Merit Aid Scholarships:"</p>
<p>With the rise of merit-based scholarships, the original intent of providing publicly funded scholarships to increase access to higher education has gone awry. Merit-based scholarships are playing a larger and larger role in providing funds to students for higher education, displacing need-based financial aid as the primary funding mechanism for postsecondary education. In fact, the difference between the need-based and merit-based funds awarded in states that have merit scholarship programs is staggering. As noted in the introduction to this report, the twelve states that have broad-based merit scholarship programs with no income cap awarded a combined $863 million in merit awards during the 2000-01 academic year, almost three times the $308 million these states provided in need-based aid. Unfortunately, because of the definitions of "merit" employed, as well as the logistics of these programs, many of the students who have the greatest financial need are passed over, effectively increasing existing disparities in college participation for minority and low-income students. Somehow policymakers have lost the focus of expanding access to higher education and have replaced it, albeit indirectly, with increasing inequity. This trend is catching on in more and more states.</p>
<p>From:</p>
<p>As Merit-Aid Race Escalates, Wealthy Often Win
State Programs, Competition Between Colleges Fuel Rise of Scholarships With No Regard for Need</p>
<p>By Jay Mathews
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 19, 2005; Page A08 </p>
<p>A father recently wrote to Dickinson College complaining that although the school admitted his daughter, it did not offer her any scholarship money, which two of its competitors had. The family's income was $250,000 a year, but the father figured that the Carlisle, Pa., college would kick in some financial aid rather than risk losing a student with excellent grades and test scores. </p>
<p>Robert J. Massa, Dickinson's vice president for enrollment and college relations, said the father's request did not surprise him. It was typical of the rising tide of "merit" or "non-need-based" scholarships -- a zero-sum game, Massa said, that is hurting the quality of undergraduate education. </p>
<p>"Family expectations of price incentives are rampant, and my colleagues and I take the bait," he said. </p>
<p>A 2003 study by the Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education reported that from 1995 to 2000, scholarship aid to students from families making $40,000 or less increased 22 percent in 1999 dollars. At the same time, scholarship aid for students in families making $100,000 or more a year increased 145 percent. </p>
<p>Experts have said the growth in merit scholarships -- grants for students with good grades or test scores -- stems from two factors: the escalating competition between private colleges for accomplished students and state efforts to encourage enrollment in public universities by giving scholarships to all residents with decent grade-point averages. </p>
<p>Sandy Baum, professor of economics at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and senior policy analyst for the New York-based nonprofit College Board, said the private colleges' use of non-need-based aid encourages wealthy applicants and discourages those with little money. "If the private colleges don't refocus more dollars on students with high-level needs," she said, "they are going to become places that are totally closed to low-income students." </p>
<p>A few educators, such as Massa, are trying to turn the tide by reducing the number of merit scholarships they give to students, even if that handicaps them in the battle for prime undergraduates. "The bottom line is that society is no better off if a kid goes to Dickinson or goes to the University of Richmond," Massa said.</p>
<p>Thus we have……. Affirmative Action, a tool colleges use to attempt to rectify situations like this.</p>
<p>Is there affirmative action for non-minority low-income students who aren't the first members of their family to go to college?</p>
<p>And at any rate, affirmative action doesn't relieve the strain on many middle class or lower middle class families that aren't getting enough need-based aid (except if they are going to Harvard or perhaps Princeton) because aid is diverted to the merit-based scholarships. The problem is it is a slippery slope if in bidding wars, schools feel the need to keep up with competitors by diverting more and more financial aid to merit-aid. In the Post article, Dickinson did give another $6000 to the family who already made $250,00 per year.</p>
<p>“Is there affirmative action for non-minority low-income students who aren't the first members of their family to go to college?”</p>
<p>Yes, there sure is…..</p>
<p>And at any rate, affirmative action doesn't relieve the strain on many middle class or lower middle class families that aren't getting enough need-based aid (except if they are going to Harvard or perhaps Princeton) because aid is diverted to the merit-based scholarships.</p>
<p>This depends completely on the school with the AA program. The purpose of the program is to help schools diversify their populations as they see fit. Thus, a specifically tailored program geared toward the middle class could in fact help the middle class. Also, I dont believe it the responsibility of colleges to insure that people receive enough aid to afford their schools. There are many different ways for people to finance a college education, ways that are not necessarily focused on the colleges themselves.</p>
<p>kk19131: "“Is there affirmative action for non-minority low-income students who aren't the first members of their family to go to college?”</p>
<p>Yes, there sure is….. "</p>
<p>And again, getting into a school doen't mean being able to afford the school. Schools that don't divert financial aid to merit scholarships are able to keep as diverse a population as possible.</p>