The Impact of US News and World Report College Rankings on Admission Outcomes and Pricing Decisions at Selective Private Institutions

Abstract

Despite the widespread popularity of the U.S. News & World Report College rankings there has been no empirical analysis of the impact of these rankings on applications, admissions, and enrollment decisions, as well as on institutions' pricing policies. Our analyses indicate that a less favorable rank leads an institution to accept a greater percentage of its applicants, a smaller percentage of its admitted applicants matriculate, and the resulting entering class is of lower quality, as measured by its average SAT scores. While tuition levels are not responsive to less favorable rankings, institutions offer less visible price discounts in the form of slightly lower levels of expected self-help (loans and employment opportunities) and significantly more generous levels of grant aid. These decreases in net tuition are an attempt to attract additional students from their declining applicant pool.

How Variances in Business School Rankings Affect Enrollment Trends and Practices

“…There is extensive literature that argues that, especially during the past 15 years, studying and making sense of the U.S. News rankings has become somewhat of an industry (Bowman & Bastedo, 2009;Griffith & Rask, 2007;Martins, 2005;Meredith, 2004;Monks & Ehrenberg, 1999;Volkwein & Sweitzer, 2006). To put things in perspective, the U.S. News website, on average, receives approximately half a million views per month.…”

Measuring university quality

“…A large number of writers have offered criticisms of university rankings, their constituent indicators and weighting schemes, and their effects on students decisions and the universities themselves (Altbach, 2010;Bowman and Bastedo, 2011;Enserink, 2007;International Ranking Expert Group, 2011;Hallinger, 2014;Hazelkorn, 2007;Leeuwen et al, 2001; Monks and Ehrenberg, 1999;Rauhvargers, 2013;Salmi and Saroyan, 2007;Waltman et al, 2012). Surprisingly, given the quantitative nature of university rankings, qualitative analysis and commentary predominates.…”

“…Turning to the relatively few quantitative studies of university rankings, Bowman and Bastedo (2009) and Monks and Ehrenberg (1999) examine the effects of changes in the US News & World Report's National Universities rankings, finding that universities that climb the ladder receive more applications and enroll a more highly qualified pool of students. Grewala et al (2008) focus instead on the factors that result in changes in US News & World Report rankings: while persistence is the norm, graduation and retention rates emerge as the most important causes.…”

“…They are now used as explicit targets by university administrators (Hazelkorn, 2007), in funding decisions by government authorities (Rauhvargers, 2013;Salmi and Saroyan, 2007), and as important factors in students' application and enrolment decisions (Bowman and Bastedo, 2009;Monks and Ehrenberg, 1999).…”

College Quality and Employee Job Performance: Evidence from Naval Officers

“…n4 For line (staff) officers, the initial sample of 20,027 (7,577) drops to 14,862 (6,675) for the grade 1-2 performance model due to missing information, especially on college grades. The grade 3 performance and the promotion models are based on 8,895 (4,797) personnel who stayed from year 4 to year 10. n5 Monks and Ehrenberg (1999) explored school attributes that may account for differences in the quantity and quality of human capital of students from more selective schools, including differences in faculty resources (faculty pay, percent faculty with Ph.D., percent faculty full-time), financial resources (student-faculty ratio, expenditures per student), alumni contributions, and endowment per student. Winston (1996) explored peer effects.…”