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The University of Arizona comes out on top of the other schools in the state according to a new analysis of colleges released by the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.
The ranking gauges the economic boost students get from their degrees.
It takes into account graduates’ mid-career salaries, rates of student-loan repayment, and what the authors call occupational earnings power – that is, what kinds of jobs most graduates go into, and what they can expect to earn.
The U of A received the highest marks in all three areas compared to the other four-year colleges in the state included the ranking. It’s followed by Arizona State University, Grand Canyon University, and then Northern Arizona University.
The Brookings Institution joins a host of other organizations that rank colleges, perhaps most notably the U.S. News and World Report and the Princeton Review. Sid Kulkarni, a senior research associate at Brookings, co-authored the report and said this one is different because factors like admissions selectivity have less weight.
"While our rankings are similarly correlated with other popular rankings of major universities and other institutions, we use a lot more data and more advanced methodology to sort of predict the economic outcomes of graduates," he explained.
Kulkarni says earnings potential should be taken into consideration when choosing a college, especially as tuition gets more expensive by the year.
Click here to see the full ranking and report.
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