Virginia is the best state for higher education in the United States, according to a ranking by Smartasset, a financial website. Last year, Virginia ranked second, behind California. States the website:
Virginia … effectively educates its students. It has one of the highest average graduation rates in our study (70%). And the average 20-year return on investment for graduates is $442,660. That’s the fourth-highest ROI in our study. For 2017, both the University of Virginia and the College of William & Mary rank among the top 10 public universities in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The survey uses multiple metrics, including the undergraduate graduation rate, the average net price, the 20-year return on investment, and the student-faculty ratio. Because each factor is weighted based on each school’s total undergraduate enrollment, larger schools have a greater impact on the overall average in every state.
Bacon’s bottom line: While the flagship institutions of UVa and William & Mary obviously contributed to the high score for Virginia’s system of higher education, the ranking methodology counted the big schools the most, and that’s a credit to Virginia Tech, George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Old Dominion University.
This blog tends to focus on the failings of Virginia’s colleges and universities, especially on the metric of affordability. Surveys like this provide a useful reminder that higher education systems across the country have their imperfections, and that Virginia’s flaws, as glaring as they might seem to us, are less grievous than those in other state systems.
That’s really damning with faint praise, isn’t it? OK, I’ll come out and say it, despite its blemishes, Virginia’s system of higher education is actually p-p-p- — hold on, I know I can get it out — p-p-p pretty good.
