The deceit behind college rankings

College rankings have been used for decades to determine which colleges are the best in the country. People rely on these rankings to base their decisions on which college they would like to attend. They trust that the list is accurate and represents the qualities of the college well. However, recently there has been a debate on how reliable they can really be.

The University of Ohio has been caught with a recent scandal. It was discovered that they had been reporting false information on its alumni rates in order to boost their ranking. This has been happening for a while, apparently – 20 years to be exact. This was a shock to many, as they never thought that a college would lie for two decades in order to look better.

Due to this, the university will undergo a severe punishment. They will be removed from the 2019 list, which is a whole lot worse than just being a low rank.

The university had been informing the makers of the ranking that the 2 year alumni giving rate was 14%. This is a far number from their actual rate: 9.7%.

This is unfortunate for the university, as last year was the first time it had been in the top 100 colleges in the country. However, now they will face a dramatic drop and not even be on the list. Although the University of Ohio is not the first college to do this, many hope that people will put a stop to the false information and prevent it from getting out and used in the first place.