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William Paterson University continues to demonstrate its positive impact on students who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, according to U.S. News & World Report’s newly released 2021 edition of “Best Colleges.”
The “Best Colleges” report includes a list of top performers on social mobility, that is: how well schools graduate students with exceptional financial need. WP was ranked no. 38 of 176 regional universities in the northern United States—jumping 27 spots from last year’s report.
The University is among the national leaders in helping its students climb the socioeconomic ladder. It ranks in the top 9 percent of 1,458 institutions in the country in the 2019 Social Mobility Index, created by CollegeNet to measure the extent to which a college or university educates more economically disadvantaged students at lower tuition and graduates them into good-paying jobs.
“We are proud that U.S. News & World Report recognizes the good work William Paterson is doing to help our students, particularly those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, succeed in school and beyond graduation,” says WP President Richard J. Helldobler. “At William Paterson, we are committed to providing an excellent education and strong career guidance for the students who are changing the social fabric of our state, region, and the country.”
In addition, U.S. News & World Report ranked the University at no. 8 of the same 176 regional universities in the northern part of the country in the category of “campus ethnic diversity,” which identifies colleges where “students are most likely to encounter undergraduates from racial or ethnic groups different from their own.”
William Paterson University was also recently recognized in Washington Monthly’s 2020 Master’s Universities Rankings—a unique ranking based on an institution’s contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility, research, and promoting public service.
WP was ranked 125 out of nearly 400 four-year institutions nationwide that offer master’s degrees.
Calling itself the “socially conscious” alternative to U.S. News & World Report, Washington Monthly ranks higher education institutions on how well they serve the country as a whole—by recruiting and graduating non-wealthy students, encouraging student activism, and producing research and technologies that create high-paying jobs and address threats like climate change.
