Dive Brief:

• Time magazine has produced an interactive college rankings tool based on criteria in President Barack Obama’s proposal for a federal school rating system.
• The adjustable metrics on the Time rankings include graduation rate; accessibility, based on the percentage of students receiving Pell Grants; and affordability, based on the net cost for families with incomes less than $110,000 and that receive financial aid.
• When each of the three factors are weighed equally, the top three schools are: the University of California—Riverside; UC San Diego, and CUNY Bernard M Baruch College.

Dive Insight:

This is a clever presentation of a concept that has caused a great deal of consternation among college and university presidents. The interactive feature is all the more interesting given that the Obama Administration hasn’t specified how it would use the factors included to assess colleges. The rankings are based on data from 2,500 colleges and universities. Under the equal-weighting calculation for the three factors, the first Ivy League school doesn’t appear in the ranking until No. 31 — Harvard University. Five California public universities appear in the top 10.