Franklin & Marshall College earned the highest score of the three Lancaster County colleges ranked in the 2024 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges lists.
The local colleges saw a mix of improvement and decline compared to their counterparts in the north and across the nation.
Franklin & Marshall College ranked 35 out of 211 liberal arts colleges nationally compared to last year’s ranking of 39 out of 210. That ranking was determined using the college’s 80 out of 100 point score – six points higher than its score last year.
With 2,034 students, F&M is the county’s largest private liberal arts college. Tuition for the 2023-24 school year is $68,180. That total does not include room and board. Despite the price, the college ranked 33 out of 93 in the Best Value Schools category. Last year, the college ranked 38 out of 95 in that category.
Elizabethtown College ranked 11 of 93 in the Best Value Schools category compared to 13 of 95 last year. The school tied with five other institutions for a ranking of 39 out of 178 in the Best Regional Universities in the North category. Last year, it had ranked 22 of 181 in that category.
Tuition for the 2023-24 school year at Elizabethtown College is $36,166.
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And though the college had improved its overall score by 21 points for a total of 72 points last year, its score fell slightly to 69 points this year.
Millersville University ranked 42 out of 58 in Top Public Universities in the North category compared to a 37 out of 63 ranking last year. The university earned an overall score of 55, up four points from last year.
In the Best Regional Universities in the North category, Millersville ranked 116 out of 178. Last year, the university ranked 109 out of 181.
MU, which is the county’s largest post-secondary institution and only public university, is in its fifth consecutive year of a tuition freeze with a rate of $9,570 for a 15-credit semester.
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Ranking formula changes
The changes the county’s two private colleges and one public university featured in the rankings might not be an indicator of a change in quality, however. This year, according to a report by the Washington Post, the formula in which schools are ranked has changed.
Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of “widely accepted indicators of excellence” including graduation and retention, social mobility and graduate indebtedness. The rankings no longer consider class size or alumni giving but have added a new factor that tracks the graduation rates of first-generation college students at national universities.
Still, the formula relies heavily on a peer evaluation survey that critics say favors wealth and long-standing perceptions of prestige over diversity and social mobility, according to the Washington Post’s report. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, who has been outspoken in his disapproval of the rankings, said in March that it’s time to “stop worshiping” the U.S News & World Report and instead focus on “delivering value and upward mobility.”