What are the best colleges and universities in Oregon 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 Oregon 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.
Oregon’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 Oregon’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
$63K
Acceptance
42%
Graduation
77%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1422/32
Reed College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$44K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
74%
Student body
2K
Willamette University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
74%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1310/29
Lewis & Clark College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
47%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1090/21
Southern Oregon University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
45%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1060/20
Western Oregon University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
84%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1250/26
University of Portland’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
89%
Graduation
64%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1160/23
Pacific University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
66%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1150/23
George Fox University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
95%
Graduation
49%
Student body
19K
Median SAT/ACT
1110/21
Portland State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
74%
Student body
21K
Median SAT/ACT
1205/25
University of Oregon’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
69%
Student body
26K
Median SAT/ACT
1200/24
Oregon State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
94%
Graduation
28%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1037/20
Eastern Oregon University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
48%
Graduation
50%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/22
Corban University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
95%
Graduation
51%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/23
Oregon Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
51%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1081/19
Bushnell University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$20K
Acceptance
100%
Graduation
38%
Student body
<1K
Warner Pacific University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
75%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1135/23
Linfield University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Oregon is home to over 40 higher education institutions, including Oregon State University, the largest in the state. More than 30,000 students are enrolled at this public research institution in Corvallis, and with a tuition of $11,000, the school comes in slightly above the national average. Students attending the next largest, the University of Oregon, will join in on a friendly intrastate rivalry against Oregon State. Though the tuition is higher at $12,000, the school boasts a student–faculty ratio of 16:1.
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Of the 21 private institutions, 10 are religiously based. Concordia University has the largest student population at just under 5,000 and a tuition of $31,000. Students who attend this private Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod university can study fields such as chemistry, psychology, and history. Oregon’s community colleges range in tuition from $4,000 to $6,000. The least expensive four-year institution in the state, Portland State University (PSU), comes in at $8,000. Students attending PSU can study a range of fields, including environmental engineering, film, and international business, right in the heart of the city.
Gaze at the Pacific Ocean from the Oregon Coast Highway, which travels along the entire coastal edge of the state. Taste Pacific Northwest wines from the Willamette Valley, or take a bike ride through the streets of Portland. Students looking to earn their associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in The Beaver State can enjoy a great higher education experience set against a stunning natural backdrop.
Discover what Oregon has to offer, and find a college that fits your career interests as well as your budget.