Finding Value in Education

Assessing “value” in education has blasted to the forefront of America's consciousness, and is assessed through a vast and ever-multiplying variety of tests, surveys, and ranking lists. And, while raw data can sometimes provide illuminating tools for understanding, it does not, by itself, provide an accurate reflection of value in education; rather, this raw data should be taken as a place to start, or jumping off point for further understanding.

School Ranking Guides

USNews.com lists the nation’s top-ranked liberal arts schools for higher education in 2008, starting with Williams College (MA). Williams boasts a freshman retention rate of 97%, and an actual graduation rate of 95% (all statistics from 2005). The student to faculty ratio was 7/1 (considered very favorable) and actual full-time faculty employed ranks at 93% (as apposed to adjuncts and other part-time employees, which implies the school takes care of its staff as well as its students).