Washington Monthly - September/October 2022 - 17

TOP 30
Hispanic students in New York City, is an across-the-board
standout on our measures of social mobility. It stands in
contrast to DeVry University Fort Washington (number
250) or DeVry Columbus (253) or DeVry Iselin (255) in
that respect.
There are scores of additional examples. Take some time
to read James and Deborah Fallows's reporting- " When
Gown Embraces Town, " page 18, and " The (Student) Paper
of Record, " page 23, respectively-about the new president
of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, a public research
university that is stepping forward to run the local K-12
school system in a first-of-its-kind initiative at the same
time that its student newspaper increasingly provides the
kind of local journalism that is vanishing from midsized cities
and towns. Or Laura Colarusso's story ( " Breaking the Cycle
of Privilege, " page 47) about how Bunker Hill Community
College in Massachusetts is helping students move into the
kind of solid well-earning jobs that once formed the backbone
of our eroding middle class. Bunker Hill is succeeding
despite that the fact that, as Anne Kim demonstrates ( " Train
in Vain, " page 42), the federal government's system for certifying
job training programs is an antiquated, broken-down
disaster, leaving unsuspecting students and the taxpayers
who support them vulnerable to programs that are obsolete,
inadequate, fraudulent, or all of the above.
The need in communities, particularly those with many
Black and Latino students, is acute. Jamaal Abdul-Alim documents
( " A Job and a College Degree Before You Graduate
High School, " page 30) how the P-TECH program is helping
high school students bank college credits toward associate's
degrees while earning competitive wages in local technology
industries. College debt is an especially acute problem
among Black borrowers. These programs help economically
diverse students move into high-demand careers while making
money instead of borrowing it. The obstacles in their way
are many. Rob Wolfe exposes ( " The Invisible College Barrier, "
page 26) one of the hidden pitfalls preventing many firstgeneration
students and students of color from entering
high-paying jobs in business and tech: a second, secret set of
admissions criteria that many universities impose after students
have enrolled in school.
Nowhere is the abuse of poor and working-class students
more acute, and the potential to help them get ahead
greater, than in vocational certificate programs-the
kind provided by community colleges and for-profit trade
schools. The Washington Monthly was the first to rank these
programs, in 2018, and we do so again this year (see page 52).
Our hope is that highlighting the good ones and exposing
the predatory ones will spur policy makers to better support
the former and crack down on the latter, while helping students
more safely navigate their futures.
All of these colleges, the best and the worst, are virtually
absent from the complex of popular culture and elite media
that mostly defines the way people understand higher
education. That matters, because people won't care about inLIBERAL
ARTS COLLEGES
1. HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE (CA)
RANK IN U.S.
NEWS (2022)
28
2. Pomona College (CA)
3. Wesleyan University (CT)
4. Washington and Lee University (VA)
5. Berea College (KY)
6. Williams College (MA)
7. Swarthmore College (PA)
8. Claremont McKenna College (CA)
9. Lafayette College (PA)
10. Amherst College (MA)
11. Bryn Mawr College (PA)
12. Haverford College (PA)
13. Smith College (MA)
14. Middlebury College (VT)
15. Grinnell College (IA)
16. Macalester College (MN)
17. Bowdoin College (ME)
18. Carleton College (MN)
19. College of Saint Benedict (MN)
20. Wellesley College (MA)
21. Franklin and Marshall College (PA)
22. Vassar College (NY)
23. Beloit College (WI)
24. Hamilton College (NY)
25. Connecticut College (CT)
26. Colby College (ME)
27. Mount Holyoke College (MA)
28. St. Olaf College (MN)
29. Whitman College (WA)
30. Gustavus Adolphus College (MN)
*Public institution
4
17
11
30
1
3
8
38
2
30
16
17
9
13
27
6
9
92
5
42
22
72
13
50
17
30
62
Unranked
79
The 2022 U.S. News rankings were released in September 2021.
stitutions they literally don't know exist-or only perceive
through the lens of socially acceptable class bigotry that
continually structures our sense of deservedness in higher
learning. So when the rare time comes to possibly advance
the cause of social justice through new federal investment,
the political weight needed to make it across the finish line
simply isn't there.
The good news is that the essential logic of building a
more egalitarian and student-focused higher education system
remains strong. That's why there was a free community
college plan in the first place. The students and educators
represented by the Washington Monthly college rankings are
legion. It's our privilege to open a window into their lives
every year.
Kevin Carey directs the education policy program at New America.
Washington Monthly 17
Washington Monthly - September/October 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Washington Monthly - September/October 2022
