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Top 10 Most Loved Schools
by Katy Hopkins
Thursday, January 27, 2011
provided by
More alumni give money to these schools than to any other institutions.
College typically lasts just four years, but a student's ties to his or her alma mater endure much longer. Because alumni status lasts forever, applicants should take a moment to consider the level of satisfaction among graduates when selecting a school.
Alumni school spirit can manifest itself in many ways -- from sideline support at athletic events to networking with current students -- but a more objective gauge of enthusiasm is the percent of graduates who give money back to their school. Each year, U.S. News surveys more than 1,700 colleges and universities, which report the percent of alumni who made a recent financial donation, among numerous other data points.
Of the schools surveyed, 1,283 reported undergraduate alumni giving information for 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. (The rate published by U.S. News is an average of the two years.) The amount of alumni support varied greatly; the Webb Institute, which tops the list, reported that more than 70 percent of graduates donated some amount of money, while the University of Arkansas -- Fort Smith reported receiving a financial gift from just .1 percent of alumni. (Keep in mind that the size of a donation does not make a difference. An alum who donates $5 is counted the same as a graduate who gives $500.)
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Donation rates tend to be much higher at private institutions. In fact, every school that made the top 10 list below is private. The public school with the greatest percent of gift-giving alumni, Virginia Military Institute, has the 56th highest percent of all public and private schools that reported the statistic. About 37 percent of their graduates donated money, the school reported.
Alumni donations do more than gauge school satisfaction; the funds can benefit current students, too. Money from alumni is often contributed to scholarship funds, athletic teams, student organizations, and new campus buildings. (Alumni can usually donate directly to the fund of their choice.) Alumni giving rates also account for 5 percent in the U.S. News Best Colleges 2011 rankings formula. Here are the schools that receive funding from the largest percentage of alumni, based on a two-year average:
| School Name |
% of
Alumni
Gift-Givers |
U.S. News Ranking & Category |
| Webb Institute |
70.9 |
Unranked |
| Carleton College |
61.3 |
8, National Liberal Arts Colleges |
| Princeton University |
60.3 |
2, National Universities |
| Middlebury College |
60.1 |
4, National Liberal Arts Colleges |
| Amherst College |
59.5 |
2, National Liberal Arts Colleges |
| Williams College |
57.6 |
1, National Liberal Arts Colleges |
| Centre College |
56.7 |
47, National Liberal Arts Colleges |
| Indiana Institute of Technology |
55.1 |
Unranked |
| Davidson College |
54 |
9, National Liberal Arts Colleges |
| Thomas Aquinas College |
52.5 |
71, National Liberal Arts Colleges |
Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the Premium Online Edition of the U.S. News 2011 College Guide to find alumni giving rates, complete rankings, and much more.
U.S. News surveyed more than 1,700 colleges and universities for our 2010 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported a myriad of data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News's data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News's rankings of Best Colleges or Best Graduate Schools.
Click here to see photos of the 10 schools alums love most
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