What are the best colleges and universities in DC 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 District Of Columbia 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.
District Of Columbia’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 District Of Columbia’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
$25K
Acceptance
96%
Graduation
46%
Student body
1K
Trinity Washington University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$18K
Acceptance
63%
Graduation
44%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
915/16
Gallaudet University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$52K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
74%
Student body
5K
The Catholic University of America’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$6K
Graduation
23%
Student body
3K
University of the District of Columbia’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$29K
Acceptance
39%
Graduation
64%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1205/24
Howard University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
17%
Graduation
94%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1465/33
Georgetown University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$53K
Acceptance
39%
Graduation
79%
Student body
12K
Median SAT/ACT
1300/29
American University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
43%
Graduation
85%
Student body
21K
Median SAT/ACT
1375/31
George Washington University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in: