UH Manoa, UH Hilo Listed in 2002 US News Rankings

University of Hawaiʻi
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Posted: Sep 6, 2001

Two University of Hawaiʻi campuses are ranked among the nation‘s colleges and universities listed in the 2002 US News & World Report student guide, America‘s Best Colleges. UH Manoa remains where it was last year — in the third tier of Best National Universities — Doctoral. UH Hilo moved this year into the new category of Liberal Arts Colleges — Bachelor‘s and is listed in the fourth tier.

"We‘re at ʻrock bottom,‘" said University of Hawaiʻi President Evan Dobelle. "It‘s obvious our reputation has suffered, and we will do everything we can to improve wherever we can for the benefit of our faculty and students."

In the US News data released today, UH Manoa is listed among 249 national institutions that offer a full range of undergraduate majors along with master‘s and Ph.D. degrees and emphasize faculty research. Being in the third tier places UH Manoa in a category ranging anywhere from 131st to 187th on the unranked list.

Indicators used to measure academic quality fall into seven categories: academic reputation, retention of students, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving, and (for national universities—doctoral, and liberal arts colleges--bachelor‘s) "graduation rate performance," the difference between the proportion of students expected to graduate and the proportion who actually do.

By most of these measures, there is little change in Manoa data from last year or in the previous three years. In releasing the rankings this year, US News notes that it is difficult to make straightforward comparisons from one year to the next because survey methodology change in some way each year.

UH Manoa also shows up in this year‘s table listing colleges whose graduates carry the least college expense indebtedness upon graduation. The magazine lists the campus at #16 in this category, noting that only about 33% of UH Manoa students borrow to finance their educations. Average debt load after college is about $12,442.

UH Hilo‘s fourth tier listing is within the unranked grouping of schools ranging from 163rd to 218th. Schools in the National Liberal Arts Colleges — Bachelor‘s category focus almost exclusively on undergraduate education.

The magazine‘s national rankings are widely distributed early in the fall semester each year with the expectation that high school seniors will use data as part of the information they consider when choosing colleges to which they will apply.