Washington Monthly - September/October 2014 - 38


Worst Colleges Ranking #2:

Graduation rate given more weight
1. ST. AUGUSTINE'S UNIV. (NC)

Private nonprofit (HBCU)

2. Mt. Sierra College (CA)

Private for-profit

3. Art Institute of Atlanta (GA)

Private for-profit

4. DeVry University (IL)

Private for-profit

5. Benedict College (SC)

Private nonprofit (HBCU)

6. Stratford University (VA)

Private for-profit

7. Intl. Acad. of Design and Tech.-Chi. (IL)

Private for-profit

8. Sojourner-Douglass College (MD)

Private nonprofit

9. East-West University (IL)

Private nonprofit

10. Westwood College-Los Angeles (CA)

Private for-profit

11. Art Institute of Houston (TX)
12. Shaw University (NC)

Private for-profit
Private nonprofit (HBCU)

13. Intl. Acad. of Design and Tech.-Tpa. (FL)
14. Arkansas Baptist College (AR)

Private for-profit

Private nonprofit (HBCU)

15. Bacone College (OK)

Private nonprofit

16. Westwood College-South Bay (CA)

Private for-profit

17. Art Institute of Portland (OR)

Private for-profit

18. South College (TN)

Private for-profit

19. Virginia Union University (VA)
20. South University (GA)

Private nonprofit (HBCU)
Private for-profit

ing #2 considers a college's borrowing rate and gives
it equal weight to the cohort default rate, median borrowing amount, and net price.
Weighting results this way does not look good for
Saint Augustine's University, which is a private nonprofit historically black institution in Raleigh, North
Carolina. The school actually has a higher cohort default rate (30 percent) than bachelor's degree graduation rate (28 percent). It also had nearly as many students who defaulted on student loans (311) as earned
credentials (335) within a two-year period. Raleigh's retention rate is in the sixth percentile nationally, and its
median debt is $22,500.
Like the first list, there are no public colleges and
the majority of institutions are for-profit. But only
four institutions show up on both lists. And though
each has three branches of the Art Institutes, they are
not the same campuses.
Some of the colleges on the second list also exemplify the tough choices that have to be addressed in a
worst colleges list. For example, because many students
attending Stratford University in Fairfax, Virginia (the
sixth-worst school), attend part-time, only 9 percent
of its students are included in the group used to calculate graduation rates. Is it fair to place 30 percent of its
score on a measure that might reflect less than one out
of every ten of its students? Balancing borrowing and
38

default rates can also be difficult. Students attending
Westwood College in the Chicago Loop borrow more
money than students at Bacone College in Muskogee,
Oklahoma ($12,900 versus $11,000), but are less likely
to borrow, with a 75 percent borrowing rate at Westwood versus 92 percent at Bacone.

September/October 2014

Ranking #3:
A Troubled Legacy
To adjust for such differences, the third list adjusts
each college's debt statistics using its borrowing rate.
This acknowledges that a college where 90 percent
of students borrow and many default is much different than a college where only 10 percent of students
borrow and, of those, many default. This grouping
also sidesteps the problem of part-time students being excluded from graduation rates by only counting the ratio of degrees per 100 full-time equivalent
students, which includes all students, full-time and
part-time.
The resulting list treads on the uncomfortable
territory that underlies many debates about higher

Worst Colleges Ranking #3:

Including degrees awarded to part-time and transfer
students and the percent of all students who borrow
1. BENEDICT COLLEGE (SC)

Private nonprofit (HBCU)

2. Westwood College-South Bay (CA)

Private for-profit

3. Central State University (OH)

Public (HBCU)

4. Shaw University (NC)

Private nonprofit (HBCU)

5. Saint Augustine's University (NC)

Private nonprofit (HBCU)

6. Mississippi Valley State University (MS)

Public (HBCU)

7. Miles College (AL)

Private nonprofit (HBCU)

8. Paine College (GA)

Private nonprofit (HBCU)

9. Ferrum College (VA)

Private nonprofit

10. Westwood College-Denver North (CO)

Private for-profit

11. Livingstone College (NC)

Private nonprofit (HBCU)

12. Bethune-Cookman University (FL)

Private nonprofit (HBCU)

13. Art Institute of Atlanta (GA)

Private for-profit

14. DeVry University (IL)

Private for-profit

15. Florida Memorial University (FL)
16. Mt. Sierra College (CA)

Private nonprofit (HBCU)
Private for-profit

17. Virginia Union University (VA)

Private nonprofit (HBCU)

18. Bennett College for Women (NC)

Private nonprofit (HBCU)

19. New School of Arch. and Design (CA)
20. Miami Intl. Univ. of Art and Design (FL)

Private for-profit
Private for-profit
* Virginia Intermont closed in 2014
Washington Monthly - September/October 2014

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