The Foreign Service Journal, December 2014

60 DECEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT Colleges that choose not to take part in the rankings may still end up on the list: U.S. News footnotes them as “non- responders,” but gathers data on them from other sources, including the Ameri- can Association of University Professors, the National Collegiate Athletic Associa- tion, the Council for Aid to Education and the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Other College Rankings e success of the U.S. News rank- ings has spawned other ranking indexes from other publications, news entities and college-related organizations. And, of course, college guidebooks like Fiske , Peterson , Princeton Review and others that have been around for decades are now online, as well. Here is a selection of some of those resources. Varying widely in methodology and focus, they are listed alphabetically. Fiske is available as a printed guide- book and also as a useful college search website where you can search colleges by di erent categories and do a self-survey to help narrow down choices. Forbes has ranked colleges using a methodology that is based more on out- comes than on applicant quali cations. Calling the U.S. News rankings “abstract” and “wasteful,” Forbes ’ list is centered on return on investment, with student satis- faction and post-graduate success among the biggest factors. Kiplinger focuses its attention on “best value” institutions, divided into private universities, private liberal arts colleges and public universities. ere are charts detailing average amount of debt after graduation by school, for example. Money Magazine recently introduced rankings that measure which schools give you the most bang for your tuition buck, focusing on quality of education, a ord- ability and outcomes. e New York Times’ Upshot section ventured into alternative college rankings earlier this year, focusing on colleges that enroll students who are economically diverse. Niche’s education portion of their website (formerly College Prowler) offers rankings that are based on student assess- ments and cover a variety of factors. Peterson’s has been providing college