U.S. News and World Report recently released their 2020 university rankings and congratulations are in order for the states of Florida, California, and New York. All the aforementioned states excel in enrolling and graduating a large quantity of low-income students.
A new list unveiled by U.S. News and World Report hopes to rank colleges based on social mobility factors. The all-new study measures how well colleges and universities graduate students who receive federal Pell Grants. To qualify for a Pell Grant, students usually come from households that report less than $50,000 income annually, although the majority of recipients tend to come from homes with a total family income that’s well below the poverty line according to U.S. News.
When compiling data, U.S. News examined the six-year graduation rates of Pell Grant recipients. The University of Florida remains the highest-ranked university in the state, public or private. In U.S. News’ list of top public school the University of Florida earned a No. seven slot, while ranking 34th among all universities.
The University of Miami and Florida State University both share the No. 57 ranking on the national university list. Florida International University earned the 105th slot on the list of top public universities and the 218th among national rankings.
Using last year’s rankings for comparison will prove futile since the competitive pool got a little larger this year. U.S. News estimates that about 13% of ranked colleges and universities moved into different categories for the 2020 rankings. For example, a college or university that was considered regional may now have moved into the national category instead.
U.S. News and World Report has relied on the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education since 1983 to issue their rankings. Said classification changed back in 2018, causing U.S. News and World Report to update their own criteria for rankings as well.
Chris began his writing as a hobby while attending Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Today he and his wife live in the Orlando area with their three children and dog.
