College Rankings
Whenever I’ve returned to Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) for an alumni event I’ve cornered the Chancellor and asked why a group of PHD’s with world class reputations cared about what a rightwing and now defunct magazine like US News and World Report thought about them. His response was always that WUSTL needed to keep a high ranking to attract the best students.
I have guessed that the real goal is to attract the best students who can pay the most. Undergrad college costs have risen sharply not only because costs have risen but because of Hollywood accounting which attributes 100% of a professor’s salary to teaching undergrads even if he teaches three course a year and does research and writing the rest.
I’ve also learned that at all but the very top rated schools (WUSTL has almost gotten into the top rankings) the financial office tells the admissions office “You need to generate $xxx dollars in tuition for next year’s class-We don’t care how you do it! Even if it takes giving half the class a free ride and the other full pay” Thus at most middle level schools, kids with reasonable records and parents who can pay full freight have a good chance of getting in.
Things have changed recently in that some of the top schools have stopped participating in the US News program. On the other hand, many schools are having terminal budget programs and many do not have endowments to cover the red. If I were still practicing bankruptcy law I’d try to specialize in College Re-Organizations. Those should be complicated because may schools are cash poor, operate in the red and have assets to preserve in terms of student records.
College Education has received much attention lately as the current high school generation has questioned the value of a degree versus the cost in terms of time and money. The student loan time bomb is a big factor. The New York Times recently ran a story of eight former high school students and their colleges choices and regrets. (Here is a link:)
As a grandparent of a smart young man entering his senior year (National Merit Scholar) I want him to go the most prestigious school best so I can brag about it. Of course, I am kidding but only slightly. My solution to help at least the top so called 50 schools who might not be failing financially but always need money is to charge grandparents $10k to admit their child but only if he/she agrees not to attend. That way the school gets their money, the kid gets to go to a school which he really wants to attend and the grandparents get to brag!