New College of Florida ranks 20th among all liberal arts colleges in the United States – and first among public liberal arts colleges – in the new Washington Monthly “2016 College Rankings” issue.
Washington Monthly magazine differs from most college guides in how it examines higher education. As the magazine puts it, paraphrasing John F. Kennedy: It ranked colleges “not on what they did for themselves, but on what they did for their country.”
The magazine looks at outcomes like how much a college helps low-income students excel, how many students perform public service and how many go on to attain advanced degrees — a measure of how they help build “the next generation of scientists and PhDs.”
Among the guide’s findings:
■ New College ranks ninth in the country for the percentage of graduates who go on to earn a doctoral degree.
■ New College also ranks ninth in the country for the lowest cost ($8,421 a year) to students and families with low to moderate incomes ($75,000 or less).
■ New College attracts a higher-than-expected number of high-achieving students from low-income families (measured by Pell Grant recipients with high admissions test scores).
With its top 20 ranking, New College joins many other well-known U.S. institutions, including Amherst College, Williams College, Wesleyan University, Bowdoin College, Middlebury College and Wellesley College at the top of the guide’s list.
The Washington Monthly honor follows another strong review for New College. In August, The Princeton Review named New College to its latest “Best 381 Colleges” guide, which profiles the top 15 percent of U.S. colleges.