Stillman College Withdraws From U.S. News & World Report's Best College Rankings

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Stillman College on Monday officially announced it is withdrawing from U.S. News Best Colleges rankings, claiming the annual rankings do not accurately measure and portray the value of a Stillman College education.

Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter and breaking news alerts.

In a letter published Monday, Stillman President Cynthia Warrick said the rankings also ignore the "tremendous investments" and outlook for the school's future, as its administration works to reshape its liberal arts profile to align with emerging workforce trends such as cybersecurity and data analytics.

Warrick is also recommending U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges Rankings create an independent task force including outside stakeholders to reevaluate the indicators used in developing the rankings.

"By incorporating factors that promote success at HBCUs like Stillman College, our students’ achievements and impact will be appropriately valued," she said.

Warrick then delved into the specifics of why the college is pulling out of the widely recognized rankings, namely:

• Incomplete metric of graduation rates
• Missing metrics for unique populations
• Graduation rates are misleading
• A growing community for transfer students
• Standardized testing and the issues of resources and access
• Stillman is a leader in social mobility for HBCUs

When considering graduation rate metrics, Warrick says the U.S. Department of Education, since 1996, has measured a school’s graduation rate by its full-time, first-time degree- or certificate-seeking students who complete their degree or certificate within 150% of the published length (six years for a baccalaureate degree) of the program in which they are enrolled.

"No matter the institution type, African Americans’ graduation rates are significantly lower than whites," Warrick said. "Thus, institutions with larger percentages of African American students (HBCUs) have lower graduation rates simply by racial makeup. Using this calculation as a quality measure for institutions is not a matter of comparing apples to apples."

Warrick also argued that the socioeconomic status of the institution’s student population is another factor that explains lower graduation rates, especially considering Stillman’s student population is greater than 70% Pell Grant eligible.

"The National Science Foundation has reported annually that HBCUs graduate more African American STEM students and are responsible for producing the Black middle class in America; these outcomes are not represented in the U.S. News rankings," She said. "Stillman has found that the circumstances of poverty challenges these students to make decisions that call them in and out of enrollment. Yet, Stillman remains committed to them. How does U.S. News measure our commitment? I opine that it does not."

Warrick went on to discuss missing metrics, citing data from the National Center for Education Statistics that the graduation rate for female students is consistently higher than male students and women make up nearly 60% of all college students at present.

She also pointed out that Stillman has over 100 students who are parents.

"We are committed to all our students’ success and support them through life’s happenings," she said. "Shouldn’t the graduation rate better reflect the characteristics of the student outcomes? Stillman should be rewarded points for attracting and retaining more male students to graduation, but this metric is not included in the ranking formulas."

Warrick also explained that while graduation rates are also a measure of retention, there are other factors that should be considered, like the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on small, private colleges.

"Additionally, the current cohort that the Department of Education uses to measure an institution’s graduation rate is the first-time, full-time freshmen in 2015," she said. "During that year, Stillman College was faced with severe financial challenges and the administration eliminated several athletic programs — football, baseball, basketball, tennis, volleyball, and track — causing an exodus of more than 200 students, with a 28% drop in enrollment."

She then said the rankings, which are based predominantly on graduation rate, do not explain Stillman’s drop in retention as a factor of student athletes’ transferring.

Rather, Warrick says it is used as a measure of quality for our institution’s academic programs.

"Parents and students need to understand how the graduation rate is calculated; otherwise, they are misled into thinking that the rate represents the most recent class of graduates, rather than the first-year students of seven years earlier," she said.

When considering Stillman as a community for transfer students, Warrick said the Carnegie Classification categorizes Stillman as a high transfer-in institution, with at least 20% of entering undergraduates as transfer students.

"Transfer students are not included in the U.S. News graduation rate calculation; thus, no credit is given in the rankings for transfer students," she said. "Including a metric that demonstrated the success of students who transfer into Stillman would be a more accurate assessment of the effectiveness of our programs and the success of our students overall."

Warrick then mentioned standardized testing and the issues of resources and access, pointing out that Stillman’s admissions test-optional in 2018 because African Americans average the lowest scores on the ACT and SAT.

"Most African American students do not have the benefit of test prep programs in middle and high schools, and most parents of first-generation college students are not aware of these programs," he said. "Additionally, families with low socioeconomic status do not have the resources to put toward this luxury. We also noticed that African American high school students at college fairs expressed anxiety over whether they could attend college because of what was considered an unacceptable test score. Basing admissions on GPA and not requiring standardized tests for admissions aligns with our mission to provide opportunities for diverse populations."

Lastly, Warrick touted Stillman as a leader in social mobility for HBCUs, citing the NSF’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics report on Baccalaureate Origins of US Research Doctorate Recipients, which showed Stillman College graduates earned 36 doctorates between 2010 and 2020.

"Among undergraduate HBCUs, Stillman ranks in the Top 20 for this prestigious outcome," she said. "Yet, U.S. News does not take this outcome into its ranking calculations. Social mobility is only 5% of the rankings. Given our student makeup and size, Stillman deserves recognition for exceptional social mobility."

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com