New Paltz shines in student-focused Wall Street Journal college rankings

SUNY New Paltz was rated as one of the 400 best colleges and universities in the United States in the 2021 edition of the Wall Street Journal / Times Higher Education College Rankings.

This evaluation is unique among college ranking systems. Its foundation is a comprehensive student survey that measures value, outcomes and student satisfaction, making it a good indicator of what real students are actually saying about their schools.

New Paltz has earned high marks in this rankings formula every year since it debuted in 2017, performing especially well in measures of student engagement, success after graduation, and diversity and inclusion in the campus environment.

Fewer than 800 colleges and universities even meet the criteria for inclusion on the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education rankings. SUNY New Paltz’s position at No. 377 not only places it in the top half of qualifying institutions, but also above thousands more that were not eligible.

Each college and university in these rankings is scored on 15 metrics grouped into four broad categories – Resources (30%), Engagement (20%), Outcomes (40%) and Environment (10%) – based on publicly available data and responses gathered in a survey of more than 170,000 currently enrolled students.

As in previous years, New Paltz outperformed other measured institutions in the Environment, Outcomes and Engagement categories, with scores well above the median in each of the three.

The College’s high marks in the Outcomes category reflect New Paltz’s strong performance on such metrics as graduation rate, graduate salary and debt after graduation.

The high Engagement score is an indicator of New Paltz’s excellence providing academic and leadership opportunities in and out of the classroom. It also includes students’ responses to survey questions about whether they would recommend the College to a friend or family member.

And the high ranking in the Environment category reflects strong performance on student and faculty diversity, opportunities for international students and overall campus inclusion.

Use this link to read more about the 2020 Wall Street Journal / Times Higher Education College Rankings, and visit their methodology page for more details about how they build the list.

SUNY New Paltz in College and University Rankings
SUNY New Paltz is consistently ranked among the nation’s top public colleges by a variety of highly regarded publications. Recently, the College was named a top 10 public college in the Northeast by U.S. News & World Report; made the Top 10 list of Military Friendly® Schools; was placed in in the top three percent nationwide in the Social Mobility Index’s measurement of students’ success climbing the socioeconomic ladder; and was named the No. 3 Best College Value in the SUNY system by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

Use this link to read more SUNY New Paltz rankings news.