Top Schools by Social Mobility, Research, Service, and Best Bang for the Buck

All schools have a strong suit, but which are considered the best for research, social mobility, and the best bang for your buck?

The Washington Monthly – covering subjects like federal policies, investigative journalism, and education – tells us just that in their 2024 rankings.

To do this, The Washington Monthly sectioned out four types of four-year schools (national universities, liberal arts colleges, master’s universities, and bachelors’ colleges) by four key categories – Social Mobility, Research, Opportunities For Public Service, and Best Bang For the Buck.

Stats were gathered from 1,586 U.S. four-year colleges on the U.S. Department of Education’s IPEDS list. They weighed social mobility, research, and community and national service equally among other factors.

For efficiency and accuracy reasons, they excluded schools with fewer than 100 undergraduate students, those with fewer than 25 graduate students, those with fewer than 10 Pell Grant recipients, and those who couldn’t provide data for a key category.

TOP NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES

The national universities were categorized as institutions that award a significant number of doctoral degrees:

TOP LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES

The top liberal arts colleges are baccalaureate colleges that focus on arts and sciences rather than professional programs.

TOP MASTER'S UNIVERSITIES

The master’s universities are institutions that award a significant number of master’s degrees but few or no doctoral degrees.

TOP BACHELOR’S COLLEGES

The bachelor’s colleges are institutions that almost exclusively award bachelor’s degrees.

BEST BANG FOR BUCK COLLEGES

The Best Bang for the Buck rankings are analogous to the Social Mobility rankings, but the Social Mobility rankings use the Carnegie classification, while the Best Bang for the Buck rankings were based on region (while predicted rates are calculated by Carnegie classification. This ranking was split into five regions - the Northeast, Southeast, South, Midwest and West.

The rankings outline how well each university assists non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices. Click here for more detailed methodology.

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