The University of Portland has been ranked the top Oregon school for best return on investment among 300 private and public institutions in Forbes Magazine‘s second annual ranking of America’s Best Value Colleges for 2017.
The University of Portland was ranked 146th among all universities nationwide. Among other Oregon private colleges and universities, Willamette University was ranked next at 159th nationally; Reed College ranked 187th; Linfield College ranked 218th; and Lewis & Clark College ranked 272nd. Among public universities, the University of Oregon was ranked 256th and Oregon State University was ranked 290th.
In light of increasing college costs, Forbes sought to explore which American universities will return an individual’s financial investment with the best quality of education. Forbes‘ methodology in assessing the Spring 2017 rankings, just in time for College Decision Day, was based on a hierarchy of criteria. First, Quality (25%) explores not what is getting students into college, such as standardized test scores, but what is helping them graduate. Quality is also determined by student satisfaction reported on RateMyProfessor and retention rates. Alumni earnings (20%) is determined by a mixture of self-reported data and statistics of federal income tax returns after at least a decade of working. A new and significantly important factor is student debt (20%), followed by on-time graduation success (15%), drop-out risk (10%), Pell Grant recipients (10%), and gross tuition and fees.
In addition to the Forbes rankings, the University of Portland has been the top Oregon school in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance annual ranking of best values in private universities for seven consecutive years. For three consecutive years, Bloomberg Businessweek has named University of Portland the top school in Oregon for “return on investment” in a state-by-state ranking of schools providing graduates with the most return for the price of their education.
For more information and to see the entire national ranking of 300 colleges and universities, visit Forbes’ Best Value Colleges 2017.