Delaware’s Best Colleges and Universities by Academic Stewardship
What are the best colleges and universities in Delaware 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 Delaware 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.
Delaware’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.
How We Measure the Academic Stewardship of Delaware’s Colleges and Universities
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 Delaware’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.
- Stewardship of financial resources: To determine a school’s stewardship of financial resources, we factored in its undergraduate size, budget, endowments and reserves, as well as tuition and fees. All these data are available from the National Center for Educational Statistics Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. In addition, we factored in a school’s financial responsibility as gauged by the Federal Student Aid Office at the US Department of Education through its financial responsibility composite scores.
- Stewardship of human resources: To determine a school’s stewardship of human resources, we used our InfluenceRanking engine to track the influence of the school’s faculty and alumni but also to control for size of the undergraduate student body. We’ve found that measuring a school’s influence based on the contributions of faculty and alumni make in their fields of study but then also controlling for size of the undergraduate population is the single best indicator of academic excellence. We call this Concentrated Influence. Schools that rank highly in Concentrated Influence are schools that, given their available human resources, invest heavily in their students and faculty, and the results are demonstrable.
- We measure the influence of colleges and universities based on the publications and citations of the schools’ faculty and alumni who are teaching in and working in areas related to their degrees. To do this, we take publicly available databases, such as Semantic Scholar, Crossref, and Wikipedia and use these to measure the influence of academics in their disciplines. Having measured the influence of persons, we then identify the schools that they’re affiliated with, adding up the influence scores of the faculty and alumni to measure the influence of the schools and their disciplinary programs. Finally, we control these influence scores by size of undergraduate student body so that schools do not score high in influence simply because of a size advantage. We lay out these methodological considerations on our methodology page.
- Academic Stewardship: Having measured a school’s stewardship of financial and human resources in the two previous points, we now divide the second measure by the first to define the Academic Stewardship metric. This metric spotlights smaller schools, with fewer financial resources and people, that invest wisely and do proportionately better in building influence than large wealthy schools. Many of these smaller, less wealthy schools are incentivized to make better use of their resources but would never get recognized in conventional school rankings, which directly or indirectly put a premium on the wealth of schools.
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.
Why Academic Stewardship Matters to Students and Their Families
The benefits of attending a school with strong academic stewardship include:
- A clear reason for why students are at the school in the first place. Without the distraction of amenities and luxuries, these schools are at once unpretentious but also passionately committed to their educational mission. The schools in this ranking are financially efficient and academically rigorous. By avoiding frills, these schools take the most direct path to accomplishing their mission of educating students.
- Valuing character over prestige and self-indulgence. A school that’s a good steward of its resources doesn’t instill shame in its students over what they are missing (such as elite cuisine) but rather pride in what they have and making the most of it. These schools exhibit a culture of good stewardship, which tends to build good character in the students that attend these schools.
- Avoiding the spoiled-student syndrome. It’s easy to think that offering students endless options and opportunities will enrich their time at school in every way. But spoiling people—whether in business, sports, or academics—has the opposite effect, causing people to take their advantages for granted and in the end achieving less than they might otherwise, a point well-documented in Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code. Schools exhibiting academic stewardship avoid this pitfall.
- The best schools vs. the schools that help students to be their best. Students at schools demonstrating outstanding academic stewardship aren’t so much concerned about being at the “best” school, whatever that may mean, as about being at a school that helps them to be their best. These schools pay attention to their students, hoping that any glory goes to them rather than to the school. Small schools, and especially liberal arts colleges, help themselves by communicating this advantage to prospective students.
- Emphasizing development over talent and achievement. Schools like Harvard and Stanford have their pick of academic talent, and their students have a long record of achievement even before they apply to such elite schools. But if a school doesn’t have the resources of a Harvard or Stanford, how does it build a great team of students? In that case, it must focus on student development. Colleges exemplifying academic stewardship emphasize student growth and development, ensuring that the schools are doing everything in their power to help students reach their full potential and thereby become their best selves.
Delaware’s Best Colleges and Universities by Academic Stewardship
- #14 Best HBCU Online Master's Programs #1 Best Small Colleges in Delaware 2024 #2 Best Colleges in Delaware 2024 #2 Best Public Colleges in Delaware 2024
Other Rankings
- #2 Best Research Universities in Delaware 2024
- #2 Best Grad Schools in Delaware 2024
- #2 Most Affordable Colleges in Delaware 2024
- #3 The Most Influential Universities and Colleges Ranked by State 2024
- #2 Best Online Colleges in Delaware 2024
- #2 Best Online Master's Programs in Delaware 2024
- #3 Best Online MBA Programs in Delaware
- #6 HBCU MBA Programs Online
- #16 Best Online Bachelor's in Public Health Degree Programs for Students
- #18 Best HBCU Online Programs
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
55%
Graduation
45%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
945/22
Career Outlook for degree at Delaware State University
Cost of Degree: $8,358Expenses: $20,548Starting Salary: $38,400Cost Recoup Time: 13 yearsPaid back at 15% of annual salaryWhat is Delaware State University known for?
Delaware State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Most Influential Alumni
Delaware State University’s Online Degrees
BS in Accounting
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Human Resource Management
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Management
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Liberal Studies
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Public Health
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
- #1 Best Colleges in Delaware 2024 #1 The Most Influential Universities and Colleges Ranked by State 2024 #1 Best Public Colleges in Delaware 2024 #1 Best Research Universities in Delaware 2024
Other Rankings
- #1 Best Grad Schools in Delaware 2024
- #1 Most Affordable Colleges in Delaware 2024
- #1 Best Online MBA Programs in Delaware
- #1 Best Online Associate Degrees in Delaware 2024
- #1 Best Online Colleges in Delaware 2024
- #1 Best Online Master's Programs in Delaware 2024
- #2 Best Online Associate in Liberal Arts
- #4 Best Online MBAs in Finance
- #5 Best Online MBA in Business Analytics Ranked for Students in 2024
- #6 Fastest Online Associate Degrees Ranked for 2024
- #9 Best Online Master's Degrees in Accounting
- #12 Best Online Master's in Cybersecurity
- #13 Fastest Online Bachelor's Degrees Ranked for 2024
- #16 Best Online Master’s in Communications
- #16 Top 20 Best Online MBA Programs that Can Be Completed in One Year 2024
- #19 Best Online Master’s in Engineering
- #22 The Best Online MBA Degree Programs in 2024 Ranked for Students
- #23 Best RN to BSN Online
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
80%
Student body
26K
Median SAT/ACT
1275/28
Career Outlook for degree at University of Delaware
Cost of Degree: $15,410Expenses: $17,034Starting Salary: $64,000Cost Recoup Time: 10 yearsPaid back at 15% of annual salaryWhat is University of Delaware known for?
University of Delaware’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
- Chemistry
- Engineering
- Computer Science
- Earth Sciences
- Political Science
- Criminal Justice
- Biology
- Psychology
- Business
- Economics
Most Influential Alumni
University of Delaware’s Online Degrees
BSN in Nursing Rn To Bsn
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
- #1 Best Christian Colleges in Delaware 2024 #1 Best Liberal Arts Colleges in Delaware 2024 #2 The Most Influential Universities and Colleges Ranked by State 2024 #2 Best Small Colleges in Delaware 2024
What is Wesley College known for?
Wesley College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
- Physics
- Mathematics
- Chemistry
- Economics
- Social Work
- Earth Sciences
- Computer Science
- Biology
- Engineering
- Literature
Most Influential Alumni
- #1 Best Private Colleges in Delaware 2024 #3 Best Colleges in Delaware 2024 #3 Best Research Universities in Delaware 2024 #3 Best Grad Schools in Delaware 2024
Other Rankings
- #3 Most Affordable Colleges in Delaware 2024
- #1 Best Online Bachelor's in Cybersecurity in Delaware
- #1 Best Online Master’s in Human Services
- #2 Best Online MBA Programs in Delaware
- #2 Best Online Associate Degrees in Delaware 2024
- #2 Best Online Doctorate in Business Administration Degree Programs
- #2 Best Online Master's in Web Design
- #3 Best Online Colleges in Delaware 2024
- #3 Best Online Bachelor’s of Graphic Arts Degree Programs for 2024
- #3 Best Online Master's Programs in Delaware 2024
- #3 Best Online Bachelor's in Animation Illustration
- #4 Best Online Associate in Finance
- #4 Best Online MBAs in Sustainability
- #5 Fastest Accelerated Online Bachelor's of Accounting Programs
- #5 Best Online MBA in Healthcare Management Ranked for Students in 2024
- #5 Best Online Bachelor's in Network Administration Degree Programs for 2024
- #6 Best Online Degrees for a Career in Teaching Ranked 2024
- #6 Fastest Accelerated Online Bachelor's of Psychology Programs
- #8 Best Online Master's in Healthcare Administration
- #8 Best Online Doctorate in Organizational Leadership Degree Programs
- #13 Best Online Bachelor's in Computer Science Degree Programs
- #14 Best Online Bachelor’s of Health Science Degree Programs Ranked for 2024
- #17 Best Online Bachelor’s of Elementary Education Degree Programs for 2024
- #18 Top 20 Most Affordable Online Business Administration Doctorates
- #19 Best Online Bachelor's in Sports Management Degree Programs for 2024
- #23 Best Online Bachelor's in Law and Legal Studies Degree Programs for 2024
- #23 Best Online Associate in General Studies
- #23 Best Online Bachelor's of Finance Degree Programs for 2024
- #24 Best Online Bachelor’s of Early Childhood Education Degree Programs for 2024
Tuition + fees
$12K
Graduation
20%
Student body
19K
Career Outlook for degree at Wilmington University
Cost of Degree: $12,030Starting Salary: $46,600What is Wilmington University known for?
Wilmington University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
- Nursing
- Psychology
- Business
- Computer Science
- Education
- Medical
- Political Science
- Criminal Justice
- Communications
- Social Work
Most Influential Alumni
Wilmington University’s Online Degrees
BS in Animation And 3d
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Digital Filmmaking
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Graphic Design
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Web Design
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Business Analytics
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Business Management
Degree Concentrations
- Professional Aeronautics
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Finance
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Human Resource Management
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Marketing
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Organizational Dynamics
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Organizational Management
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Sports Management
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Accounting
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Accounting And Finance
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Applied Technology
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Computer And Network Security
Degree Concentrations
- Digital Forensics
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Computer Science
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Information Systems Management
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Criminal Justice
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Law, Policy, And Political Science
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Education
Degree Concentrations
- Early Childhood Education
- Elementary Education K-6
- Middle Level Education Grades 6-8
- Skilled And Technical Sciences
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Communication
Degree Concentrations
- Digital Journalism
- Public Relations And Strategic Communication
- Visual Communication
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Liberal Studies
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Health Sciences
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BSN in Nursing Rn To Bsn
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Behavioral Science
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
BS in Psychology
- Required Credits: 120
- Completion Time: None Reported
- Format: Online
Delaware’s Best Colleges in Your Area of Interest
Colleges and Universities in Delaware
Delaware is home to six higher learning institutions offering associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees for both traditional and online students. Despite its small size, there are plenty of excellent options among the brick-and-mortar and online colleges in Delaware.
With two public schools and four private schools, Delaware excels in awarding degrees in fields such as mathematics, political science, criminal justice, and publishing. Prospective students can also choose from between affordable traditional courses and online degree programs at either the Delaware State University or the University of Delaware.
In-state students will pay roughly $8,000 for a year at Delaware State University and about $14,000 for tuition at the University of Delaware. Out of state students will pay more.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
The student body size of these schools is, however, vastly different. Just a little over 4,000 students attend Delaware State University. By contrast, more than 22,000 on-campus and online students are currently taking courses at the University of Delaware.
Among private colleges in Delaware, Wilmington University has the highest student population among private colleges at just under 10,000 students. Wilmington University is also the most affordable private college in Delaware at $11,000.
Students who attend Delaware College of Art and Design can specialize their associate degree in animation, fine arts, graphic design, illustration, or photography. Residents who earn degrees in the medical or mental health fields have the opportunity to get state-sponsored financial aid through Delaware’s State Loan Repayment Program (SLRP). Applicants must agree to work in underserved areas of Delaware for two or three years and can receive up to $105,000.
Though it is the second smallest state in the nation, Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution, earning it the nickname, The First State. With the Delaware River running through it, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and forests throughout, Delaware college students will find beauty everywhere.
Just above the nation’s average annual college tuition cost at $12,274, Delaware provides prospective students with an array of highly respected traditional and online degree programs. Discover more about Delaware’s colleges and universities.
What are Delaware’s Colleges & Universities?
- 3 Research Universities
- 1 Liberal Arts Colleges & Universities
- 3 Graduate Schools
- 2 Public Colleges & Universities
- 2 Private Colleges & Universities
- 1 Christian Colleges & Universities
- 2 Small Colleges & Universities (fewer than 5,000 students)
- 3 Affordable Colleges (below $20,000/year)
- 3 Online Colleges