This Miami-area university just moved way up in the U.S. News Best Colleges rankings
FIU is first in the nation in the U.S. News & World Report ranking for success of disadvantaged students. The publication just released its highly anticipated annual Best Colleges rankings on Tuesday, which ranks public and private universities in several categories.
The ranking for low-income students is known as “social mobility,” and measures how well economically disadvantaged students do in college. The ranking measures social mobility using the graduation rate for students with federal Pell Grants. The majority of Pell Grants are awarded to students with family incomes under $50,000. The university shares the top spot for social mobility with University of California, Riverside.
The formula is adjusted to give more credit to schools with larger Pell proportions. Pell Grants were awarded to 46 percent of students at FIU in the 2022-2023 year.
The average 6-year graduation rate for students with a Pell Grant at FIU is 75 percent. The overall 4-year graduation rate is 59 percent.
“This goes to show just because you come from a modest background does not mean you won’t be successful,” said FIU President Kenneth Jessell.
FIU’s affordable tuition makes it attractive for lower income students. The average in-state tuition in the nation is $12,051, and FIU charges $6,566.
“We have been very very focused over the years of improving the quality of our teaching and research, and what we do for our community,” said Jessell.
Florida’s top public universities
Florida International University is also now in the top 50 public universities in the nation, according to the U.S. News rankings, climbing 18 spots from last year to 46th place.
The University of Florida is 7th in the nation on the list of public universities, down from 6th place last year. Florida State University held its position in 23rd from last year while the University of South Florida maintained its spot in 45th. The University of Central Florida ranked 61st, and Florida A&M at 81st.
For FIU, being in the top 50 public schools validates the work they have been doing to improve academic performance for all students.
The school has worked toward this for at least half a decade and is incredibly proud of its new position, said Jessell.
The rankings are calculated using a formula that measures graduation rates, retention rates, and other factors including the average salaries of graduates, faculty salaries, borrower debt, reputation, and more.
“We have been doing the right things, and now we are seeing it in the rankings,” said Jessell of FIU.
In the last few years, FIU has done a comprehensive re-work of classes to ensure students can sign up for the classes they need when needed. They also revisited how some classes are taught – focusing less on old ways of teaching and more on developing critical thinking.
How Florida fares in the overall list of top universities
On the list of overall best universities, which combines both pubic and private schools, the University of Florida tied with New York University in the 30th place position.
Florida State University is 54th in the nation, the University of Miami 63rd and Florida International University is 98th.
Florida Atlantic University came in 189th overall and Nova Southeastern University 231st.
There are 436 national universities on the list.
For the best colleges in the Southern Region, Miami Dade College ranked number 18 and Florida Memorial University came in at number 65.
FIU says it is proud of the ranking because it reveals that they are contributing to the prosperity of the local community.
Criticism and changes to rankings
For universities across the nation, these rankings are important because they encourage the recruitment of better students and faculty.
Over the years, the U.S. News & World Report Best College rankings list has been criticized for using manipulated data as well as unclear and subjective methodologies. Last year, the U.S. News did an overhaul of its method for ranking colleges, creating more weight on social mobility.
There have also been questions about the reliability of data submitted to U.S. News. In 2022, a Columbia professor accused the school of submitting misleading data.
But nonetheless, rankings are still important to students when choosing colleges, and even more important to the schools themselves — who publicly celebrate high rankings, and complain about low rankings.
FIU plans to celebrate its rankings outside its library on Tuesday with light bites and music. In a note sent out to students, President Jessell started with, “Panthers, we did it!”
This story was originally published September 24, 2024 at 11:03 AM.
