Reply to New US news rankings: liberal arts colleges

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think Oberlin and Kenyon both suffer from being in Ohio. The kind of kid who wants to go to Oberlin doesn’t want to be in MAGA land. That’s why they’re trying to attract students with so much merit. If Oberlin was in a blue state, it wouldn’t be handing out money. [/quote]

Explain Grinnell then.  It’s in the heart of MAGA country and in the middle of nowhere and súper left wing and kicks the snot out of Kenyon and Oberlin in the rankings.  [/quote]
Grinnell has a very big endowment (usually in the top 10 or so for largest endowment per student of any school). It still gets ranked much lower than most of the schools with similar amounts of $$.[/quote]

“Much lower?”  Really?  It’s ranked 11th in the current rankings, which sure ain’t low, and it’s ranked 8th with the service academies taken out, which is very high.  Several of the seven liberal arts colleges above it have higher endowments.

In other words, you’re wrong.  [/quote]

I still contend I'm right. Pomona and Amherst would be the only selective LACs above Grinnell based on endowment per student, so I'd say they are ranked significantly lower than those $$ peers (Swarthmore and Williams would be right behind Grinnell in that regard). No offense to Grinnell but it doesn't get mentioned in that top ranked group it is a part of in terms of endowment per student.
https://www.collegeraptor.com/college-rankings/details/EndowmentPerStudent/
[/quote]

I think the answer is that Grinnell is almost like a “new money” school. It by no means has the historical prestige of the east coast schools and there is clearly a disadvantage associated with being so far from commercial/power centers. (There is also perhaps a charm and benefit to the isolation but it doesn’t offset the disadvantage.) But thanks to Warren Buffett and other good fortune, the endowment is at the level of the top east coast schools with richer histories as academic institutions. Ultimately money buys you almost anything you want… great professors, great facilities, great students (via generous need based or merit aid). It is no coincidence that Princeton ranks as the top school year after year given its huge endowment per capita advantage. But some things money can’t buy and that is why Grinnell stays a notch below Williams, Swat, etc which have comparable resources but the benefit of being elite colleges for longer and ultimately better located. [/quote]

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