Scranton Makes National Rankings for Value and Outcomes of Graduates

The University of Scranton has been listed among the best in the country for value by several national rankings of colleges, including – now – in the inaugural ranking of the “Top U.S. Colleges” by The Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education ranked 1,061 colleges based on their analysis of 15 individual performance indicators meant to measure student engagement and outcomes as well as the resources provided in support of education. Scranton ranked No. 210 overall and No. 170 for student outcomes and No. 189 in student engagement.

The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education based the student engagement portion of their analysis on The U.S. Student Survey, which queried more than 100,000 current college and university students on a range of issues relating directly to their college experience. Student engagement represented 20 percent of the overall ranking score. Outcomes, which represented 40 percent of the overall ranking score, looked at graduation rate, academic reputation, value added to graduate salary and value added to the loan repayment rate. The “value added” portions of the analysis used research by the Brookings Institute, among others, to apply statistical modeling to adjust for student and other characteristics in order to measure the impact the school has on the salary and loan repayment rates of its graduates. The overall score also measured resources (30 percent), which included the finance cost per student, faculty/student ratio and research papers published per faculty member, and the learning environment (10 percent), which includes student and staff diversity, among other factors.

A national ranking by the nonprofit organization Educate to Career designated Scranton among the 2017 Top 100 Best Value Colleges. Scranton ranked at No. 97 of the 1,195 colleges and universities listed. This ranking was based on measurement of the percentage of graduates employed in occupations which utilize their field of study; the average salary earned by recent graduates, by school for each major category (adjusted for region, occupation and other variables); the percentage of alumni employed within one year of graduation; loan default rates; net cost of attendance; graduation rates; and the number of years to graduate, among other factors.

Student Loan Report ranked Scranton No. 119 in the nation in its listing of institutions that provide on-campus jobs that are not affiliated with the Federal Work Study Program. The ranking showed Scranton as providing 543 non-federal work study part-time positions for students on campus.

In other national rankings published during the summer, U.S. News & World Report ranked Scranton No. 6 among the “Best Regional Universities in the North” and No. 22 in the “Best Value Regional Universities in the North.” U.S. News also ranked Scranton’s programs in entrepreneurship No. 13, finance No. 16 and accounting No. 20 in the country, and its business school No. 184 in the nation. MONEY magazine ranked Scranton No. 291 among just 705 of the “nation’s best-performing colleges,” and Forbes ranked Scranton No. 243 of the only 660 universities listed as “America’s Top Colleges” based on analysis by The Center for College Affordability and Productivity intended to evaluate a school’s “return on investment” or “value.”

In addition, The Princeton Review ranked Scranton in its 2017 edition of “The Best 381 Colleges” among the nation’s “Best Science Labs” (No. 4), “Best Campus Food” (No. 11), “Best College Dorms” (No. 17) and “Students Most Engaged in Community Service” (No. 20).

The University of Scranton has been nationally recognized for value in multiple national rankings published recently, including in The Wall Street Journal’s inaugural ranking of the “Top U.S. Colleges.”