"Battered by funding cuts, bombarded by the White House and braced for demographic changes set to send enrollment into a nosedive, America's colleges and universities have spent this year in flux. But one of higher education's rituals resurfaced again Tuesday, when U.S. News & World Report published the college rankings that many administrators obsessively track and routinely malign. And, at least in the judgment of U.S. News, all of the headline-making upheaval has led to ... well, a lot of stability."
"For those picking (or running) an American college, U.S. News is a preeminent purveyor of watercooler talk, despite long-standing misgivings about whether trying to rate colleges is even a good idea. U.S. News defends its rankings as essential services for consumers figuring out what is one of life's big-ticket buys. The publisher shut down its print newsmagazine in 2010, but it has said at least 100 million users a year visit its education website, despite decades of complaints about issues like data scandals and vacillating methodologies."
"Princeton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University retained the top three spots in the publisher's rankings of national universities. Stanford University kept its place at No. 4, though Yale University also joined it there. Williams College remained U.S. News' pick for the best national liberal arts college, just as Spelman College was again the top-ranked historically Black institution."
Princeton, MIT and Harvard retained the top three positions in the U.S. News national university rankings, with Stanford and Yale tied at No. 4. Williams College remained the top national liberal arts college and Spelman College remained the highest-ranked historically Black institution. The University of California, Berkeley moved ahead of UCLA as the top public university. Colleges faced funding cuts, White House pressure and demographic shifts expected to reduce enrollment, yet the rankings showed notable stability. U.S. News continues to attract large audiences, claiming about 100 million annual education-site users while defending its methodology despite recurring criticism.
Read at Boston.com
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