It is pretty well known how much I love college and university rankings.  No, that was not said in jest!  I adore reviewing the methodology and seeing how various publications and organizations use the various pieces of public and solicited information to establish their ratings.  It is fascinating to see how they derive lists based upon their readership or constituency's interests. 

For this reason, I was thrilled to receive a copy of the methodology for the Kiplinger's Personal Finance Annual College Rankings.  I've attached it here so that you can read it.  Since Kiplinger's audience wants a college survey that has number$ of interest, the Kiplinger's survey is based upon the "best values" in higher education.  Note that half of the criteria are financed-based and half are academic-based, with the academic qualitative information "determin[ing] the master list from which we cull our top 100 schools in each category and weighs more heavily in the final rankings than the cost information."  Interesting, because I can think of a handful of schools with amazing academic programs that aren't on their top 100...  Regardless, this is worth reading.

I've also been asked recently to re-post the survey for the reputational portion of the U.S. News & World Report rankings.  This is a year old, but it is still a gem.  If anyone wants the scoop on how USN&WR's rankings work, drop me a line.  Bob Morse generously walked me through it and I'm happy to share my knowledge!  Bob's blog entry on June 20^th indicates that this year two new features will be added to the USN&WR rankings--"up and coming institutions" and the opinions of high school counselors.

PS--I lambasted Bob last summer for not accepting comments on his blog.  I'm happy to report that function has been added!  Comment away J

-- Teresa