The Chronicle of Higher Education
Higher education is facing a pivotal moment as leaders reckon with U.S. News & World Report’s rankings and the outsized role they play in setting the agenda.
As many have rightly explained, the rankings create perverse incentives with pernicious effects: Many institutions have implemented regrettable strategies to move up the magazine’s vaunted rankings — at the expense of good policy.
One of the most problematic impacts of U.S. News’s rankings is the effect its methodology has on low-income students, who need financial aid to access the opportunities they’ve earned. For decades, college leaders have used precious aid dollars to go after students with scores that can deliver a rankings boost. In our field, a top LSAT score has become a golden ticket to financial aid, even as many institutions allow lower-income students to struggle with higher tuition bills. Such practices keep law school financially out of reach for large numbers of highly qualified, indisputably meritorious applicants.
Source: Chronicle.com
Cc: Tamara F. Lawson and Heather K. Gerken
