September 10, 2013 1:40PM # Long Live the Hated College Rankings! By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) --- SHARE H[](http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/economic-diversity?src=stats&int=4f0116) ![Media Name: 320px-Princeton_%286035183309%29.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/upload.wikimedia.org/242952468499/320px-Princeton_%25286035183309%2529.jpg?itok=aEAikLpo) ooray, the *U.S. News and World Report* college rankings are out! No, they aren’t perfect — Creighton probably isn’t [slightly better](http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-universities-midwest) than Butler, or [Berkeley than UVA](http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/page+3) — but the relative standings of schools is but one piece of information *U.S. News* provides to help both consumers and the publication’s[ bottom line](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/education/05education.html?_r=0). You know, a win-win. Indeed, most of the information that President Obama thinks Washington needs to publish, at least according to the “[fact sheet](http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/22/fact-sheet-president-s-plan-make-college-more-affordable-better-bargain-)” to go with his recent college tour, is already provided by *U.S. News*. You will have to pay $30 for access to all of it, but that’s a microscopic investment compared to the six-figure choice many prospective students will be making. Let’s run the presidential rating-items list: - “Percentage of students receiving Pell grants”: [Check!](http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/economic-diversity?src=stats&int=4f0116) - “Average tuition”: [Check!](http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/data) - “Scholarships”: [Check](http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/most-merit-aid?src=stats&int=4f0116) and [check!](http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/need-based-aid?src=stats&int=4f0116) - “Loan debt”: [Roger](http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/most-debt?src=stats&int=4f0116) [that!](http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/least-debt?src=stats&int=4f0116) - “Graduation…rates”: Better believe [those](http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/highest-grad-rate?src=stats&int=4f0116) are [checks!](http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/highest-graduation?src=stats&int=4f0116) - “Transfer rates”: Not exactly check, but [close.](http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/freshmen-least-most-likely-return?src=stats&int=4f0116) - “Graduate earnings”: OK, not in *U.S. News*, but readily [available right here!](http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013) - “Advanced degrees of college graduates”: Here’s the only clear non-check for easy data availability. *U.S. News*’ “graduation and retention” sections for each college have many advanced study categories, but most don’t give data. Other than specifics about transfer rates, advanced studies pursued by a school’s graduates, and graduates’ earnings, everything the White House wants to use for ratings is on the *U.S. News* site. And of those missing items, *U.S. News* offers a decent approximation for one and PayScale gives you the other. Oh, and *U.S. News* furnishes tons of additional information the fact sheet doesn’t mention, including rankings of undergraduate business and engineering programs; schools with the most emphasis on teaching; student body ethnic diversity; student housing; and much more. Of course, again, *U.S. News* isn’t perfect. Which is why it is so great that it has lots of competitors, including [*Forbes*](http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/list/), [*The* *Princeton Review*](http://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings.aspx), [*Washington Monthly*](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/), and more. In other words, the market provides, and we don’t need more government “help.” Indeed, what we need from government is [much, much less](https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/how-much-ivory-does-tower-need-what-we-spend-get-higher-education). ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).