Economist Ranks the Best and Worst Oregon Colleges

Wednesday, November 04, 2015

Brendan Murray, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Linfield College; via Linfield College's Facebook page.

New rankings on the top colleges in the country based on how much students earn, compared to how much how much they are expected to earn after completing their degree. Linfield College came in as the top school in Oregon, besting more well-known institutions such as the University of Oregon, Portland State University and Reed College.

The rankings, published last week by the Economist, compare colleges based on a new type of ranking system. They compare the amount students at each institution earn after graduation with the amount they can be expected to earn. The top schools in the Economist’s rankings were the ones with the highest positive difference between actual and estimated earnings.

To calculate what a school’s expected earnings would be, data from the college scorecard recently released by the Department of Education, including average SAT scores, sex ratio, race breakdown, college size, whether a university was public or private, and the mix of subjects students chose to study, among other factors to determine an estimate for each college of how much money its alumni would make.

SEE SLIDES BELOW: The Econoimist Ranks Oregon Colleges By Earnings

The results were much different ranking than observers typically see. Washington and Lee University in Virginia finished at the top of the Economist’s rankings, followed by Babson College and Villanova University. Harvard University, ranked 4th, was the top-ranked Ivy League college and Bentley University in Massachusetts finished fifth.

Linfield College’s McMinniville Campus ranked top in Oregon, coming in at number 98 in the country. The state’s top five was rounded out by Eastern Oregon University at 217, the University of Oregon at 394, Northwest Christian University at 450 and Western Oregon University at 550.

Focusing on Outcomes

Dan Preston, Vice President of Enrollment at Linfield College, told GoLocal that he believes that while the Economist’s rankings are limited, they provide important information about what students get out of their time at college.

“I think you’ll see families and students ask more questions about outcomes and studies like these,” Preston said. “Obviously there are more reasons to go to college than just a paycheck, but that has to be an important part of the decisions. If you are going to spend that kind of money, energy and time you need to know what you are getting out of it.”

Thomas L. Gais, Director of the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at the University at Albany, agreed with Preston. He said that studies like these, that incorporate post-graduation earnings are a relatively new development in the world of college rankings and have the potential to have a big impact on the decisions made by students and their families.

“The fact that this data did not exist before now means they are going to exert some weight in the decision-making process,” Gais said. “The recession scared a lot of people, and that hasn’t changed. The cost of colleges also continues to rise, so people are depending more and more on loans, so these kind of studies that examine return on investment, I think, are going to have an impact.”

The University of Portland; via The University of Portland's Facebook page.

Limitations Exist

Gais said that while rankings like those by the Economist can shine a new light on the college search and decision process, there are limits to ranking colleges based on economic outcomes.

Chief among them, Gais said, is that most students who graduate from top-notch universities are destined for success, no matter they obtain a degree from.

“One of the big problems with this are selection effects,” Gais said. “Students that are accepted to top schools are very likely to do well and find success simply because of other characteristics. Most of those students do very well in school, are hard workers, have supportive families and are generally not poor and do not have other major disabilities. Those all have an effect on how successful someone is.”

Preston said that while he was glad to see Linfield College rank well in the study, he agreed that there were plenty of limitations to the rankings, among them the limited scope of factors considered.

“When we first heard about the rankings, we had mixed feelings,” Preston said. “They were mixed because we were trying to figure out what exactly they mean.”

Preston said the rankings showed that Linfield is having a positive effect on students, but that to see the true impact of a particular college on a student’s future, a longer time frame is necessary.

“10 years is a long time and you can learn a lot about someone’s earning potential, but it is also limited,” Preston said. “College graduates keep earning 20 or even 30 years after they graduate, so there needs to be a bigger scope to this.”

Economist Ranks the Best and Worst Oregon Colleges

SEE SLIDES BELOW: The Econoimist Ranks Oregon Colleges By Earnings

Focusing on Outcomes

The University of Portland; via The University of Portland's Facebook page. Limitations Exist

Related Slideshow: The Economist Ranks Oregon Colleges

Reed College

Corban University

University of Portland

Pacific University

George Fox University

Southern Oregon Universit

Oregon State University

Portland State University

Willamette University

Lewis and Clark College

Multnomah University

OIT

Western Oregon University

Northwest Christian

University of Oregon

Eastern Oregon University

Linfield College

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The University of Portland; via The University of Portland's Facebook page.

Limitations Exist