TAMPA, Fla. — The Wall Street Journal released its annual list of the best colleges in the U.S. on Monday — and every single Florida university took a significant tumble in the rankings.
To develop the rankings, the news outlet worked with researchers from College Pulse and Statista to analyze three main categories: student outcomes, learning environment and diversity.
Florida college rankings
The highest-ranking school in the Sunshine State is Florida International University (FIU) at No. 77. For context, there are 500 U.S. colleges on the list in total.
Even being the highest-ranking Florida school, FIU fell 48 spots on the list compared to last year, when it sat at No. 29.
The University of Florida (UF) fell from No. 15 to No. 83 amid the fallout of ex-President Ben Sasse's resignation. Named the best public university in last year's rankings, UF fell to No. 24 for this year.
- Florida State University (FSU) went from No. 102 to No. 199
- The University of South Florida (USF) went from No. 151 to No. 250
- The University of Central Florida (UCF) went from No. 172 to No. 274
- Florida Atlantic University (FAU) went from No. 183 to No. 263
- The Florida Institute of Technology went from No. 309 to No. 498
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University went from No. 361 to No. 421
How college rankings were determined
Student outcomes, which make up 70% of a college's score, consider things like:
- A school's ability to boost students' salaries
- How long it would take the average student to pay off tuition, room and board, supplies, etc.
- A school's impact on graduation rates
Learning environment, which makes up 20% of a college's score, factors in:
- Interactions with faculty and quality of teaching
- Career preparation
- Quality of libraries, classrooms, and internet connection
- The extent to which students would recommend their college
The last 10% of the score is made up of diversity factors like:
- Opportunities to interact with students from different backgrounds
- Ethnic, ability and income diversity and inclusion