AU Ranked 8th in Nation By Washington Monthly

The Washington Monthly College Rankings recently placed Alfred 8th in the nation among master’s degree institutions, up twelve spots after being ranked 20th last year.

Adding to the honor, Alfred was ranked 3rd in the country among masters institutions in percentage of graduates enrolling in doctoral programs.

Since 2005 the publication has sought to answer an important question: “What are colleges doing for our country?”

In an effort to answer this question, DC-based magazine looked to evaluate America’s universities in an unconventional way.

The more traditional studies, as conducted by US News, Princeton Review and Forbes, evaluate universities by the initial value of students. Rather than looking at the value students gain while attending a university, these studies focus only on the academic statistics of the entering class.

Alternatively, Washington Monthly evaluates the degree to which universities promote research, service, and social mobility. “It actually attempts to rate institutions on the basis of their contributions to the academic and personal improvements in the students they enroll” said President of Alfred University Charles Edmondson.

Undoubtedly there are limitations of any system which attempts to “rate complex organizations such as colleges and universities” said Edmondson. He later added that Washington Monthly’s approach “seems to offer prospective students and their families a much more valuable insight to colleges than the ratings that are based mostly on ‘reputation’ and how well its students did in high school.” 

According to Washington Monthly, the wealthiest universities in America receive only 4% of their student bodies from low-income households. So while the education at these institutions is no doubt superb, they mainly provide opportunity to students from relatively prominent economic backgrounds.

As the editors of Washington Monthly wrote, "We all benefit when colleges produce ground-breaking research that drives economic growth, when they offer students from low-income families the path to a better life, and when they shape the character of future leaders. And we all pay for it, through hundreds of billions of dollars in public subsidizes. Everyone has a stake in how that money is spent."

This is where Alfred measures up. Thirty-two percent of our students come from economic backgrounds which qualify them for the Pell Grant; a need-based grant provided to undergraduate students of low-economic backgrounds.

In other words, Alfred University provides opportunity.

Isn’t that how value should really be measured?