Florida Colleges Suffer Drop In U.S. News Ratings

By ADAM EMERSON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Aug 17, 2007

Notable Florida schools suffered a drop in rankings in the popular U.S. News and World Report best colleges list set to be released today.

The University of Florida and Florida State University each dropped two spots among the nation's best universities to 49th and 112th respectively.

And New College of Florida, located in Sarasota, fell off its top perch as the nation's best public liberal arts college to No. 4 in its field.

A percentage point off in surveyed categories such as graduation rates and student-faculty ratio can send a college down a slide in the rankings. UF, for instance, lost points when it accepted fewer freshmen who were in the top 10 percent of their high school class.

The magazine and the schools that enjoy spots at the top say the annual rankings help parents and their college-bound children make a critical financial decision. Critics say they lump colleges with different missions together to create a beauty pageant that has tarnished higher education.

Those two viewpoints surfaced in Florida in June. When a coalition of liberal arts schools split on boycotting the rankings, Eckerd College in St. Petersburg agreed to withhold information from the magazine in the next round of surveys, while Rollins College in Winter Park voted to keep cooperating.

Eckerd College retained its spot in the third of four "tiers" of liberal arts colleges, those schools ranked 126 through 184, respectively, out of 248 total; schools in the bottom two tiers are grouped alphabetically. Rollins kept its No. 1 spot in the south's Best Master's Universities. With its refusal to participate in the survey, Eckerd leaders expect a ranking drop next year.

HOW THEY RATE

Here are results for some Florida colleges. The first number is the latest ranking, and the number in parentheses is last years'.

Best National Universities

49th, University of Florida (47th)

112th, Florida State University (110th)

Third tier, University of South Florida (third tier)

Third tier, University of Central Florida (fourth tier)

Best Liberal Arts Colleges

Third tier, Eckerd College (third tier)

Top Five Public Liberal Arts Colleges

4th, New College of Florida (1st)

Best Master's Universities,

Southern Region

1st, Rollins College (1st)

22nd, University of Tampa (36th)

Best Baccalaureate Colleges,

Southern Region

5th, Florida Southern College in Lakeland (8th)

Best Business Programs

27th, University of Florida, Warrington College of Business Administration (29th)

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.