RATING SYSTEMS CHALLENGED AS HIGHER EDUCATION ABSORBS THE IMPACTS OF SOCIETAL CHANGE
As the values underlying traditional rankings of American colleges are increasingly questioned, Golden Gate University (GGU) of San Francisco has emerged as a national leader. For the second year in a row, Washington Monthly has rated the 115year old institution the “Best College for Adult Learners.”
Since it was founded by journalists in 1969, Washington Monthly has been considered a voice of non-partisan reason in the nation’s capital. Paul Glastris, editor in chief of Washington Monthly, addressed the academic disparity in a New York Times op-ed on October 31, 2017.
Mr. Glastris noted that although adult students represent almost 30 percent of undergraduates, fewer than 1 percent attend traditionally prestigious universities such as Yale or Princeton. He also argued that given this imbalance, a prestige-driven annual ranking system such as U.S. News & World Report’s has become out of touch with today’s academic population.
He is not alone in his critique. John Tierney, Malcolm Gladwell, and even President Barack Obama have decried the inflated importance prospective students and their parents assign to the U.S. News rankings. Writing for The Atlantic, Mr. Tierney indicated several damning factors, from subjective “peer assessments” to outright deceit by colleges and universities in their attempts to attain higher positions in the vaunted ranking.
“Compounding the problem is that the best-known arbiters of college quality, like U.S. News & World Report, reward schools for prestige and selectivity,” argued Mr. Glastris, “not for serving the needs of adults and all the other students who actually make up most of America’s college classrooms.”
Since 2005, Washington Monthly has taken a more quantitative, provocative approach in compiling its College Guide and Rankings list. An antidote to the anxiety-producing, status-oriented PRESENTED BY
U.S. News system, the Washington Monthly College Guide rates schools “based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories”:
1. Social mobility, i.e., recruiting and graduating low-income students 2. Research, i.e., producing cuttingedge scholarship and PhDs 3. Service, i.e., encouraging students to give something back to their country
The College Guide also includes the “Bang for the Buck” category, an “exclusive list of schools that help nonwealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.” Obviously, attaining the most economical, efficient degree is a primary concern for adult students, who often have to balance their studies with employment, parenting, or caring for others.
Two years ago, Mr. Glastris and his Washington Monthly editors recognized the adult-student population’s unique circumstances. Often less concerned about campus and social-life opportunities and more dependent on flexible class schedules, future income, loan repayment, and extenuating fees, the editors created the first ever “Best Colleges for Adult Learners” rankings.
The “Best Colleges for Adult Learners—4 Year Colleges” are ranked according to a unique set of criteria:
1. Ease of transfer 2. Flexibility of programs 3. Services for adult students 4. Percentage of students over 25 years old 5. Mean earnings of adult students 10 years after college entry 6. Loan repayment of adult students 5 years after leaving college 7. Tuition and fees
GGU’s mission to educate adult students is well-documented, with 89 percent of its student body consisting of people 25 or older. Younger students clearly benefit from interacting with these more experienced learners as well, even though age diversity is sadly absent from most elite universities.
As tuition soars and high school graduates experience increasing pressure to get into the “right school,” colleges that educate adult students continue to innovate with curricula and methodologies that are likely to make their ways into more traditional institutions.
“It wouldn’t be hard for prestigious universities to adapt themselves for prospective adult students—and there are plenty—who could compete in and benefit from attending those schools,” concluded Mr. Glastris. GGU may not possess a $1 billion endowment, but the school has emerged as the topranked educator for our diverse, talented adult-student population.
GGU received the top ranking among all four-year colleges according to these exacting standards, with high marks in each category. The mean salary of $74,332 for adult students 10 years after college entry was the highest among the top 25 colleges on the list. This is especially impressive when you consider that GGU’s tuition and fees ($14,6540) were near the middle among the top 25.
“Golden Gate also does well on measures of adult-student friendliness, like how easy it is to transfer credits a student may have completed 10 years ago at another school,” wrote Mr. Glastris. “A school like Golden Gate should be a model for how other institutions can adapt to the newer, older face of American college students.”