What are the best colleges and universities in Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin 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.
Wisconsin’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 Wisconsin’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
$55K
Acceptance
58%
Graduation
78%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1230/27
Beloit College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
67%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1105/22
Ripon College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$52K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
79%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1315/28
Lawrence University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$45K
Acceptance
60%
Graduation
70%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1275/27
Milwaukee School of Engineering’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
59%
Student body
7K
University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
84%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1220/26
Marquette University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
65%
Student body
10K
University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
46%
Student body
22K
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
56%
Student body
10K
University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
57%
Graduation
88%
Student body
38K
Median SAT/ACT
1390/29
University of Wisconsin–Madison’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
39%
Student body
4K
University of Wisconsin–Parkside’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
96%
Graduation
64%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/24
Wisconsin Lutheran College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
86%
Graduation
43%
Student body
2K
University of Wisconsin–Superior’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$18K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
56%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1105/22
Maranatha Baptist University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
57%
Student body
6K
University of Wisconsin–Green Bay’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
58%
Student body
5K
University of Wisconsin–River Falls’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
61%
Student body
4K
Concordia University Wisconsin’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$42K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
73%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/24
St. Norbert College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
72%
Graduation
70%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1135/23
Carroll University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
56%
Student body
7K
University of Wisconsin–Platteville’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Between community colleges, technical schools, and universities, Wisconsin has 30 public schools. All the public schools in Wisconsin have affordable tuitions, ranging from $4,000 to $11,000. The University of Wisconsin - Madison has over 35,000 students in attendance, making it the largest in the state. The tuition runs about $11,000, and the school boasts an 85% graduation rate. Public affairs, veterinary medicine, and human ecology are just some of the fields students can study here.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
Of Wisconsin’s 29 private schools, 18 are religious. With just under 10,000 students, Marquette University is the largest, and tuition for this school is about $42,000. Located in Milwaukee, this Catholic, Jesuit university offers degrees in fields like business, engineering, physical therapy, and law. Also located in Milwaukee, the state’s smallest institution, the Wisconsin School of Professional Psychology, is a private graduate school with just over 30 students, and is geared toward those earning their doctoral degree in clinical psychology. Wisconsin, like many states, also provides a loan forgiveness program to those who are working in the health care field.
When people think Wisconsin, they might immediately crave cheese. After all, the state is home to a museum dedicated to all things cheese, including the annual making of a 90-pound wheel of Swiss. But The Beaver State is also known for its more than 15,000 lakes, including Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. Prospective students looking to earn their associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree will enjoy the food, landscape, and educational variety Wisconsin has to offer.
Learn more about Wisconsin’s higher education opportunities by checking out the state’s variety of colleges and universities.
