What are the best colleges and universities in Alabama if you reward schools for making the best use of their limited resources? Academic Stewardship asks how effectively schools manage their financial and human resources to gain the influence that makes them academically excellent. Schools that are exemplary in Academic Stewardship are doing everything in their power to help students and faculty achieve their full potential.
Colleges and universities in Alabama deserve to be recognized when they do more with less. It’s impressive when a large wealthy school can spend money lavishly on expensive buildings and programs. But it’s even more impressive when a small school with limited means is able to train and inspire students that the larger wealthier schools tend to ignore.
The American Association of Colleges and Universities reported in late 2021 that almost 75 percent of higher-education professionals at US colleges and universities felt financial constraints prevented their schools from effectively attracting students. Distracted by the size and amenities of larger schools, prospective students tended especially to be overawed by the big research universities.
Alabama’s smaller colleges, especially its liberal arts colleges, need effective ways of communicating their value to a world that celebrates “bigger is better” and “you need the best.” Unfortunately, most college ranking companies, such as U.S. News & World Report, define “best” in a way that devalues schools with smaller budgets and fewer students even when these schools do remarkable work in advancing their students’ education. By and large, college rankings penalize schools that serve underserved populations.
Inspired by Malcolm Gladwell, who for years now has criticized conventional college rankings for misrepresenting what’s good and valuable in education, we decided to construct a new ranking metric that highlights those schools that do more with less. That metric—called the Academic Stewardship metric—takes away both the size and the wealth advantage of schools, and focuses instead on how well schools use the resources available to them to advance the education of their students.
As a metric, Academic Stewardship is defined by a precise mathematical formula, which can be found in our Academic Stewardship white paper. Measuring the Academic Stewardship of Alabama’s colleges requires measuring two forms of stewardship: 1) Stewardship of financial resources (using the money they have responsibility without waste) and 2) Stewardship of human resources (doing their best to help students, faculty, and administration to flourish). Together, these two types of stewardship form what we call Academic Stewardship. If you want to learn more about the factors involved in Academic Stewardship, click the more button below.
Academic Stewardship as so defined is connected to keeping tuition and other costs down, but it should not be confused with affordability or frugality. The schools that this metric ranks as exemplary academic stewards tend to be all over the map when it comes to tuition and other costs. At issue is the influence of schools given the financial and human resources they have on hand. If a school is going to charge more for tuition, then that needs to be reflected in the school having proportionately greater influence.
The benefits of attending a school with strong academic stewardship include:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Graduation
24%
Student body
1K
Miles College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Graduation
30%
Student body
1K
Talladega College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$21K
Acceptance
54%
Graduation
57%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1112/22
Spring Hill College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
27%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1080/20
Faulkner University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
61%
Graduation
52%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
989/20
Tuskegee University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
99%
Graduation
32%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
950/17
Alabama State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
77%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1160/26
Samford University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
57%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1363/28
University of Alabama in Huntsville’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
46%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1045/21
Jacksonville State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
29%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
925/17
Alabama A&M University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
The 54 colleges and universities in Alabama allow students to pursue associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in many fields all over the state. Some of the most notable degree areas include law, nursing, biology, history, engineering, and religious studies. If flexibility is what you need, Alabama has over 20 colleges and universities offering online degree programs.
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Students hoping to obtain a four-year degree at a larger university can attend one of the two largest — as well as rivalry — schools, the University of Alabama and Auburn University. Both schools’ tuition is about $11,000, though the University of Alabama’s student population, at nearly 36,000 students, is larger than Auburn’s. Students also have the option of attending one of Alabama’s 18 private higher education institutes, many of which have religious affiliations. Tuition costs and student populations range greatly among these schools, from $36,000 to $4,000 and nearly 15,000 students to less than 100, letting students factor in their budget with their class size demands.
Additionally, students who need more flexibility can take advantage of the satellite campuses, like at the University of North Alabama, or the 70 online degree programs offered at the University of Alabama, to easily obtain their degrees. For more information on higher education in Alabama, check out some of the state’s top programs and their corresponding career paths.
For die-hard football fans and lovers of sweet tea, obtaining a higher education degree in Alabama can seem like an obvious choice. The Yellowhammer State, however, is also home to a unique mixture of coastal, mountainous, and swamp environments, making it a great choice for students who love soaking up the outdoors.