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UW Recognized in Princeton Review’s Best Value College Rankings

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The Princeton Review released The Best Value Colleges rankings this month and the University of Washington Seattle continues to be recognized as one of the best colleges in the U.S. The Best Value College rankings considered schools with demonstrated excellence in areas such as academics, financial aid, career prospects, and student experience.

In compiling The Best Value Colleges list, The Princeton Review considered more than 40 data points.  The data points include academic outcomes, cost, financial aid, debt, graduation rates, and career and salary outcomes for alumni.  Out of 650 schools considered, 209 schools made the rankings, which the Princeton Review commended as

“…truly the most exceptional in the nation at delivering great academics, affordable cost, and great career foundations.  We strongly recommend and salute the colleges we present here for all they do to help their students with need afford to attend them while delivering an amazing college experience that’s worth every penny.”1

Among public institutions, the University of Washington Seattle was rated #16 on the list of Top 50 Best Value Colleges, up from #18 in 2021.  The Best Value Colleges list considers seven categories in its ranking: overall value, value for students without financial aid, alumni network activity, internship accessibility, career placement, financial aid, and schools making an impact.  Of the seven categories that went into the Best Value Colleges list, the University of Washington Seattle ranked in the top 20 in four categories.

When it comes to value, the University of Washington Seattle was recognized for providing a great return on investment for students.  This year, the UW Seattle placed #11 on the list of Top 20 Best Schools for Internships, highlighting the multitude of career training opportunities students have access to.  Additionally, the UW Seattle placed #16 on the list of Top 20 Best Career Placement in recognition of its career support services and salary outcomes for alumni.

Finally, the University of Washington Seattle was also recognized for engaging students in important work in the community and beyond.  This year the UW Seattle placed #5 on the list of Top 20 Schools for Making an Impact.

 

1 Best Value Colleges Methodology | College Rankings | The Princeton Review

 

2019 Higher Education Trends

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As the higher education landscape continues to change and evolve in the United States, below are some select national and state trends driving higher education policy and innovation in recent years. The Office of Planning & Budgeting (OPB) continues to monitor these, and other, trends. This list was curated using multiple sources, including recent news articles and blogs, recent state-level legislation, and higher education trends analyses from The Brookings Institution and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

1. College Affordability

College affordability continues to dominate the national conversation around higher education. This year, the Washington Legislature took big steps to make college more accessible and affordable for Washington families. Read more about the proposal in OPB’s brief on the legislature’s final compromise 2019-21 state budgets.

Additionally, many of the Democratic candidates for president in 2020 have released higher education policy proposals to address college affordability. These proposals include initiatives to increase funding for Pell Grants, to create “free college” using state-federal partnerships, expand student loan forgiveness, and increase dedicated funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs).

2. Changing Student Profiles

According to the Lumina Foundation, 38 percent of all undergraduates are older than 25. Traditional college students – 18- to 21-year-olds who attend school full-time – now only make up about a third of the college population.

Students are also increasingly taking on additional responsibilities while in school. According to HBSC, 85 percent of students are working in paid employment while studying. Lumina also reports that students work, on average, 19 hours per week.

3. Integrating Data

A report from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, Association for Institutional Research, and Educause found that “most institutions are investing in data and analytics projects, but few are measuring the resulting costs.”

The report found that colleges are using data in more ways as they modernize and manage programs to show returns on student and state investments. Studies of students’ academic progress and success are the leading types of data projects. Many institutions are conducting several types of student success studies annually. However, nearly one fourth of institutions are not collecting usable business and systems-level data and few institutions are systematically collecting, integrating, and using their data.

4. Changes in Admissions

Last year, the University of Chicago announced that it would no longer require applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores, the most-selective institution ever to adopt a test-optional policy. Today, more than 1000 U.S. colleges and universities have adopted similar policies.

As colleges and universities continue to use data to better understand how their students perform, they become less reliant on test scores. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, “on many campuses, deep dives into enrollment data have helped admissions offices determine which pieces of information they collect from applicants actually help them predict a variety of student outcomes, such as first-year grades and progress toward a degree.” The University of Chicago “found that ACT and SAT scores didn’t tell it much about who would succeed and who would struggle.”

5. Open-Access Research

Global advocates are calling for publicly funded research to be available through open-access sites, rather than behind paywalls of subscription-based journals. Over the last few years, the movement has gained momentum at increasing cost to publishers. In 2018, Florida State University said it would not subscribe to a publisher’s journals in one bundled deal. This year, the University of California system cancelled its contract with Elsevier, one of the biggest academic publishers in the world. The University of Iowa also announced a new open-source online journal, providing open access to the research and creative scholarship of the university.

This debate has some immediate consequences for academics and researchers, who will lose access to journals unless schools renegotiate with publishers. The University of California attempted to mitigate some of these consequences by publishing alternative methods to access publications.

 6. Transnational Students

According to Studyportals, the number of American students enrolling at foreign colleges is expected to grow from 2.3 million student in 2015 to 6.9 million in 2030. This trend is attributed to multiple causes, including “higher ambitions and investments for world-class universities” and “accelerated growth of global, multi-national networks.”

However, in the United States, the number of new international student enrollments is declining. Inside Higher Ed reports that, “New enrollments fell 6.3 percent at the undergraduate level, 5.5 percent at the graduate level, and 9.7 percent at the non-degree level from 2016-17 to 2017-18.” While overall trends remain at an all-time high, increasing by 1.5 percent in 2018, there is some concern that new U.S. immigration policies might have long-term impacts on international enrollment.

7. Online Enrollment

Online courses continue to become more popular in the United States. In 2016-17, overall postsecondary enrollment dropped by almost half a percent, while the number of students who took at least some of their courses online grew by 5.7 percent. Over the last 15 years, online enrollment has quadrupled.

However, a report from George Mason University claims that the growth in online enrollment has been “disproportionately large in the for-profit sector.” Further, “online coursework has contributed to increasing gaps in educational success across socioeconomic groups while failing to improve affordability.”

8. Online Program Managers

As online enrollments rise, online program managers (OPMs) are working with colleges and universities to provide online options for students. OPM providers contract with institutions of higher education to create, market, and recruit for online degree and non-degree programs. In return, OPMs earn a percentage of the revenue or tuition from the online programs offered at public colleges and universities.

College and universities like Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of North Carolina already provide online programs through OPMs. Purdue University chose to acquire Kaplan University in 2017 to directly expand its online presence.

Conclusion

Higher education continues to adapt to new technologies and a changing global environment. This blog represents just some of the most recent changes, and there are many other challenges and opportunities for American colleges and universities. As institutions seek to balance the status quo with contemporary shifts, their flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances will be a key element in determining their future success.

UW Ranked #28 in the World for Second Straight Year by Times Higher Education (THE)

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The University of Washington maintains its #28 rank for second year in a row in the Times Higher Education (THE) 2019 World Reputation Rankings, released Wednesday July 17th. This ranking is commonly used to measure a university’s global impact.

The UW is one of only 11 of our US News top public research university peers to make the top 50 in the reputation ranking. In that group of 11, UW is ranked 4th overall, coming in 4th in both research and instruction.

This ranking is based on an opinion survey sent to published scholars around the world. THE asks scholars to name the top 15 universities that come to mind in two categories:  research and teaching. The ranking score is a count of how many times an institution is named by a respondent as being the best in their field.  This year, Harvard University was cited most often, therefore their score was set to 100 and the rest of the universities were graded on a curve as a percentage of Harvard’s 100 score.

The geographic distribution of responses spanned 135 countries, with 20 percent of the responses coming from scholars in North America.  In the survey, scholars are asked their opinions based on their specific discipline.  Scholars with at least 14 years of experience in their field are invited to respond.  This year, THE received 11,554 responses.

Finally, it is worth noting that the survey data used for the Reputation Ranking serves as one of 11 indicators used to create THE World University Rankings that will be published in the fall.

Washington Guaranteed Education Tuition Program Reopens after Two Year Freeze

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According to a recent story by The Seattle Times, Washington’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program officially reopened on November 1. The GET program is a college-savings program. Under GET, families purchase GET units, currently valued at $113, to prepay the cost of tuition. GET account holders are guaranteed that 100 units will cover one year of full-time, undergraduate, resident tuition and fees at Washington’s most expensive public university at any point in the future.

In July 2015, the GET Committee authorized a two-year delay in most new unit sales, given the legislature’s decision to decrease resident undergraduate tuition at public institutions. During this time, GET was required to complete a legislatively mandated study to evaluate its future. The GET Committee voted to reopen the program earlier this summer and to “rebase” all existing accounts. Customers who held accounts prior to the freeze were given additional units because the unit payout value was reset to reflect current, lower, tuition. GET is now available to people who want to start new accounts and those who want to continue buying GET units.

The legislatively mandated study also tasked the GET Committee with looking into implementing other college savings options, such as a “529” college savings plan (which refers to Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code). As a result of that effort, a new 529 savings plan, to be offered alongside GET, is currently scheduled to open in early 2018.

Two New Rankings List the UW among Top Universities

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The University of Washington is ranked #25 in this year’s Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings. While other top U.S. universities have slipped in the rankings, the UW maintains its #25 position for the second year in a row. For the first time in the history of the THE rankings, neither of the top two universities are in the U.S.

The THE World University Rankings were first published in 2004. This year’s rankings list 1,000 universities around the world.

Five categories contribute to a university’s ranking score. Of these, teaching (measured by reputation survey, student-faculty ratio, and number of doctoral degrees), research (measured by reputation survey, research income, and publication count), and citations combine to account for 90 percent of the score. The UW scores particularly highly in the citation category, measured as the number of times a university’s researchers are cited by other scholars. The UW’s #17 ranking in citations, with a score of 99.0 out of 100, contributes to its high overall score. In contrast, the UW’s scores in international outlook and industry income—which together account for 10 percent of the overall ranking—are lower in comparison with other top universities.

More information about the Times Higher Ed methodology is available on their website.

The UW is also ranked highly on this year’s U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges list, coming in at #56 among national universities and #18 among public universities. While this represents a slight drop from last year’s #16 ranking among public universities, it continues a long run of being listed among the top 20.

The U.S. News rankings are calculated using seven categories of data: graduation and retention rates; assessment surveys of academic peers and high school guidance counselors; faculty resources; admissions selectivity; per-student spending; performance relative to predicted graduation rate; and alumni donations. Along with the overall university rankings, U.S. News also calculates several more specific lists. The UW ranked highly for undergraduate engineering programs (#11 among doctorate-granting public universities), best colleges for veterans (#11 among public universities), and undergraduate business programs (#14 among public universities).

More information about the U.S. News methodology is available on their website.

The UW’s recognition in these rankings follows the Academic Ranking of World Universities (which ranked the UW #13 in the world) and the Center for World University Rankings (which gave the UW top-10 rankings in 45 subject categories), both published earlier in 2017.

New Ranking Lists the UW among Top Global Universities

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The University of Washington is ranked #13 among world universities on the 2017 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). While the UW has consistently ranked among the top 20 universities each year since the ARWU was first published, this year’s ranking is the highest it has achieved to date.

The ARWU was first published in 2003 by Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Center for World-Class Universities. Since 2009, the ranking has been published by the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, which is not affiliated with any university. This year, the ARWU ranked 1300 universities around the world, and published the list of the top 500.

Like the recently-published Center for World University Rankings list, the ARWU calculates its rankings based on a university’s external recognition. The components of the ARWU ranking include: total number of alumni and faculty winning major awards; number of highly-cited researchers employed; and counts the number of papers published and cited. The UW scores especially highly in the number of faculty-authored articles indexed in major science and social-science citation indices. In contrast, the number of UW alumni awarded Nobel Prizes or Fields Medals is lower when compared with other top universities. More information about the ARWU’s methodology is available on their website.

In addition to their overall rankings, the ARWU also publishes subject rankings in a number of fields in the natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medical sciences, and social sciences. The UW’s highest subject rankings in 2017 include: public health (#3 in the world), dentistry and oral sciences (#3), biological sciences (#5), and biomedical engineering (#5).

More information about the UW’s past rankings in the ARWU is available here.

Update: Supreme Court Decision on Fisher v. University of Texas

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On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld University of Texas at Austin’s race-conscious admissions policy in its second consideration of a Fisher v. University of Texas appeal. As a reminder, the case stemmed from a lawsuit by Abigail Fisher, a white applicant to UT Austin who claimed she was unfairly rejected due to the university’s affirmative action admissions program. Since our last update, when the Supreme Court ordered the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to reconsider the case, the appellate court affirmed their decision in favor of UT, and Fisher again appealed that court’s decision to the Supreme Court. For additional background on this case, please see our previous two posts, found here and here.

The case was decided by an unusual 4-3 margin due to Justice Kagan’s recusal and the recent death of Justice Scalia. According to the NY Times, Justice Kennedy, who had never before voted to uphold an affirmative action plan, wrote for the majority that “…it remains an enduring challenge to our nation’s education system to reconcile the pursuit of diversity with the constitutional promise of equal treatment and dignity.”

This decision marks the end of the Fisher case, but the debate over affirmative action in higher education carries on.

Stay tuned to the OPBlog for updates.

New Report Examines Challenges Facing Public Research Universities in 21st Century

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The Lincoln Project, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ study of public research universities (PRUs), has recently come out with its fifth and final report, which examines the challenges facing PRUs and recommends strategies for addressing them. The recommendations are threefold:

  1. Address Financial Challenges:

The sharp reduction in state funding for PRUs—down 30 percent since the year 2000—has been particularly harmful because it has forced public universities to raise tuition. This directly affects access for low-income students—one of the key responsibilities of public higher education. For this reason, the authors highlight financial aid for low-income, in-state undergraduate students as the most important program that institutions can provide. The UW’s Husky Promise program, which provides free tuition to resident undergraduates with financial need, is an example of this type of financial aid.

To cope with diminished state funding, the report also recommends:

  • Regional alliances with other PRUs, allowing the schools to combine programs;
  • Focusing fundraising on unrestricted donations, allowing universities to put the money towards core educational programs;
  • State-led creation of PRU long-term funding plans, allowing universities to more securely plan for their future; and
  • Advocating for additional federal research support.
  1. Form Public-Private Partnerships:

In the authors’ view, there is a natural alliance between PRUs and businesses. PRUs are critical to the business community: they educate workers and provide research upon which businesses and corporations build their enterprises. Universities also rely on businesses for funding assistance and for employment opportunities for their graduates. The report recommends that businesses provide research funds, well-paid internships, scholarships, and other support mechanisms for universities and their students. Universities, in turn, should provide easier access to their research and actively work towards partnering with businesses. The UW has a variety of public-private partnerships, including its Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), a partnership with Microsoft and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

  1. Serve Students:
  • Simplify financial aid: Filling out a FAFSA is a complicated process which can impede access to higher education. Simplifying the loan application procedure would help ensure that a larger proportion of students who are interested in higher education get access to the funds they need to pursue their goals.
  • Track student performance: Thanks to improved data analysis tools, universities have an enhanced ability to help students graduate. The report highlights Georgia State University (GSU) as a particularly successful example. GSU uses an algorithm to pinpoint students at risk of failing or dropping out, enabling the university’s advising services to intervene on a one-to-one basis. According to the report, these interventions have increased graduation rates by 20 percent, reduced time to graduation, and eliminated graduation rate differences between racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups.
  • Improve transfer pathways: The report recommends that four-year institutions work with community colleges to simplify the transfer procedure. Doing so can make higher education more affordable and accessible and can help transfer students graduate with a four-year degree on time and with as little debt as possible.

Two overarching themes of the Lincoln Project’s report are partnerships and accessibility. Public universities will need both in order to continue fulfilling their dual missions of conducting top-level research and providing high-quality, affordable higher education.

2016 Supplemental Budget – House Appropriations Committee Proposal

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Earlier today, the leadership in the House Appropriations Committee released their 2016 supplemental operating budget proposal. Toward the end of this week, the leadership in the Senate Ways & Means Committee will release their budget. Following that release, we will post a brief here outlining the differences between Governor Inslee’s proposed budget and the House and Senate proposals.

As a reminder, supplemental budgets include technical corrections and minor appropriation changes to the current 2015-17 biennial budget (fiscal years 2016 and 2017). Budget proposals in the House and the Senate will be amended in their respective committees, and possibly on each chamber floor, before negotiations begin towards a compromise budget.

Overview of the House budget:

Compared to the Governor’s proposal, the UW would receive an additional $50,000 to fully fund the implementation of HB 1138. In addition, the House budget would not reduce the UW’s allocation for legal services (the Governor proposed a reduction of $151,000).

Under the House proposal, the UW’s share of the settlement in the Moore v. HCA lawsuit would increase to nearly $16.3 million, compared to $15.6 million in the Governor’s budget.

The House Capital Budget Committee will release its 2016 supplemental capital budget proposal on Wednesday. Stay tuned to the OPBlog for updates on proposed budgets as they move through the process.