College rankings: 4 of America's worst schools are in California

Published Sep 23, 2014 7:59 AM

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Just in time for back-to-school comes yet another college rankings list. The "U.S. News and World Report" probably has the most famous one. "Forbes" and "TIME" each have their own. And even President Obama got into the college ranking game recently.

This one is a bit different than the annual glut of "best colleges" lists. In fact, it's the complete opposite. "Washington Monthly" set out to find those institutions that — whether due to cost, debt or students' prospects after the mortarboard drops — should be avoided. And California is well-represented among them.

To find the worst of the worst, "We set out to make a list of the poorest-performing colleges," writes Ben Miller, a senior policy analyst with the New America Foundation’s Education Policy Program. "What we found is that, while good schools are basically all alike, every crappy school is crappy in its own way."

He continues:

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"Whether it's a northeastern private college, a well-regarded midwestern public institution, or some other school rich with financial and reputational resources, any option will provide students with what really matters: overwhelmingly high odds of graduating from a well-recognized college."

These rankings, though, are for that "less fortunate" student who maybe can only get into lower-tier colleges and whose decision is more likely to be which schools to avoid. With the student loan delinquency problem only getting worse, more emphasis is being placed on the how much bang students are getting for their borrowed buck even at the lower-ranked colleges.

To find the "top" 20, "Washington Monthly" took that into consideration and based its overall worst ranking of 1,700 four-year colleges and universities on the four following criteria:

Net price
Average student debt
Average default rate
Average graduation rate

All criteria were weighted equally.

Four California colleges ranked in the "top" 10, including the private film school Columbia College—Hollywood (which is actually in Tarzana).

RANK	SCHOOL	STATE	CATEGORY
1	New England Institute of Art	MA	Private for-profit
2	Columbia College—Hollywood	CA	Private nonprofit
3	Fountainhead College of Technology	TN	Private for-profit
4	Saint Augustine's University	NC	Private nonprofit (HBCU)*
5	Platt College—Aurora	CO	Private for-profit
6	Becker College	MA	Private nonprofit
7	Brooks Institute	CA	Private for-profit
8	Mt. Sierra College	CA	Private for-profit
9	Menlo College	CA	Private nonprofit
10	University of Advancing Technology	AZ	Private for-profit
11	Columbia College—Chicago	IL	Private nonprofit
12	Cornish College of the Arts	WA	Private nonprofit
13	DeVry University	IL	Private for-profit
14	Clark Atlanta University	GA	Private nonprofit (HBCU)*
15	Midstate College	IL	Private for-profit
16	Shimer College	IL	Private nonprofit
17	Miami International University of Art and Design	FL	Private for-profit
18	Art Institute of Colorado	CO	Private for-profit
19	International Academy of Design and Technology—Chicago	IL	Private for-profit
20	Kansas City Art Institute	KS	Private nonprofit
	Source: 'Washington Monthly'		*Historically Black Colleges and Universities

"Washington Monthly" also complied rankings where graduation rates, degrees conferred to part-time and transfer students, and graduation rates of minorities and low-income students were weighted more heavily.

You can see those lists at their website.