Here are this year’s top schools, including our “Best Bang for the Buck” lists and rankings of the best two- and four-year colleges for adult learners.
September/October 2017
Introduction: A Different Kind of College Ranking
We gathered the best available data and ranked colleges not on what they did for themselves, but on what they did for their country.
America’s Best Colleges for Adult Learners
Nearly half of all college students are twenty-five or older. Yet no publication ranks the top schools for them—except us.
A Note on Methodology: Best Colleges for Adult Learners
We began with the 7,647 postsecondary institutions listed in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) as being active in the 2015–16 academic year.
The Twelve Most Innovative Colleges for Adult Learners
College isn’t designed for students over twenty-five. These schools are working to fix that.
America’s Best Bang for the Buck Colleges 2017
Our exclusive list of schools that help non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.
Young People Don’t Vote. Can Colleges Change That?
Student voting can tip elections. Here’s how some schools are figuring out how to get students to the polls.
A College Adviser in Every School
Poor kids need college admissions help the most but get it the least. This injustice can be solved without breaking the bank.
Ivy League Endowments Under Fire
Liberals and conservatives agree that it’s time for ultra-wealthy colleges to start sharing their wealth.
The Looming Decline of the Public Research University
Cuts in research funding have left midwestern state schools—and the economies they support—struggling to survive.
Borrower’s Remorse
The Obama administration promised debt relief to the victims of predatory for-profit colleges. Then came Trump.
A Note on Methodology: 4-year Colleges and Universities
We considered no single category to be more important than any other, and the final rankings needed to reflect excellence across the full breadth of our measures.
Will Higher Education Reform Become Another Ideological War Zone?
Thanks to the conservative media fixation with excoriating PC college campuses, higher ed is at risk of becoming a partisan punching bag.
Has D.C. Teacher Reform Been Successful?
A debate.
The Health Care Debate We’re Not Having
Two new books show how access to health care is only part of the problem.
What Your Country Should Do for You
A new, post-Clinton repudiation of the politics of personal responsibility, though elegant, may still not convince skeptical voters.
Identity Crisis
Liberalism needs a broader collective vision to break free of its captivity to the political interests of narrow groups.
What Would Donald Do?
How evangelical Christians got to the point where they could embrace a Hugh Hefner–like president.
The Constitutional Case for Equality
The founders assumed that America would always be a middle-class nation. That makes it particularly important to check the power of plutocrats today.
Successes of Philanthropy
