Best 100 Universities and the Ticket to the American Dream

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Thanks to US News College Rankings, we know what are the “Best” 100 universities in the country. If you want to know specifically what they are best at, you can find out here. But how good are they at making sure that attending the “Best” University isn’t limited by economic need?

After all, despite the current economic situation, college graduates still make more money than high school graduates so a college degree is considered a ticket to the American Dream. And if you can get into one of US News College Rankings top 100 Universities–that should be a first class ticket.

So which of the top 100 are offering the most tickets to those with the most financial need?

How can we measure economic need?? By using Pell Grants. Most Pell Grants are given to students whose family income is less than $23,000 per year. Unfortunately, this accounts for around 17% of families according to the Census Bureau. Approximately 23% of all families make less than $30,000 a year.

How do the Best 100 Universities rank according the percentage of freshman receiving Pell Grants?

The 18 universities where 25% or more freshman receive Pell Grants? includes only three private institutions and no schools that are ranked in the top 20. In fact, only three of the 20 Best Universities even make it into the top 50 ranking of schools with the highest percentage of freshman receiving Pell Grants.

Given that the top 20 Best Universities have incredible financial resources, you have to wonder why the lower rankings for students with Pell Grants. Is it because that they couldn’t find enough qualified economically disadvantaged students? Or maybe they just think 15 percent or less is adequate representation of economically disadvantage for their class composition?

One possible reason is that some universities promise and deliver no-loan financial aid guarantees. This would certainly require a greater financial commitment than a university that just refers students to private lenders. One university is offering the ticket to more students but on credit where the other is offering it to fewer students but completely paid for.

Which situation is better? That assumes a choice most students don’t have.

But those trying to figure out where to send their four free SAT reports might find the table below interesting.

The following table lists US News Best 100 National Universities ranked by the percentage of freshman receiving Pell Grants. The financial information is from the Integrated Post-secondary Education System. All of this information is also available in the DIY College Rankings College Search Spreadsheet.

Percentage of Freshman Receiving Pell Grants
at Top 100 National Universities

Name	National Rank	Type	% Freshman Receiving Pell Grants	% Freshman Receiving Institutional Grants	Avg Amount Institutional Grants for Freshman	Avg Net Price Family Income $0-$30,000
University of California-San Diego	38	Public	47	61	5271	8715
University of California-Santa Cruz	77	Public	42	62	9215	9431
University of California-Davis	38	Public	39	67	7238	8701
Stony Brook University	92	Public	38	36	3376	6498
University of California-Irvine	44	Public	38	55	6106	8191
University of California-Santa Barbara	41	Public	34	55	8043	8998
University of California-Los Angeles	24	Public	32	58	7649	8572
Pepperdine University	54	Private	31	71	26173	17301
University of Florida	54	Public	29	32	3729	3778
Rutgers University-New Brunswick	68	Public	29	45	5828	11909
Florida State University	97	Public	28	36	2361	6125
The University of Texas at Austin	46	Public	28	46	4112	7220
University of California-Berkeley	21	Public	27	53	8506	8051
Michigan State University	72	Public	26	39	5597	5569
SUNY at Binghamton	89	Public	26	8	6801	8325
University of Massachusetts Amherst	97	Public	25	57	5221	8863
Stevens Institute of Technology	75	Private	25	95	22407	17046
Syracuse University	58	Private	25	71	21412	18422
University of Washington-Seattle Campus	46	Public	24	27	6289	6128
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry	77	Public	24	74	2372	9300
Baylor University	77	Private	24	94	13952	20227
Texas A & M University-College Station	65	Public	23	52	5457	4010
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	68	Public	23	59	3808	7929
Emory University	20	Private	23	53	25635	14612
University of Georgia	63	Public	22	20	5308	4177
University of Vermont	92	Public	22	87	11083	6832
University of Missouri-Columbia	97	Public	22	59	5096	11864
University of Miami	44	Private	22	70	23667	21415
Indiana University-Bloomington	83	Public	21	47	7526	3919
Purdue University-Main Campus	65	Public	21	43	5405	6980
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	46	Public	21	40	5572	7432
The University of Alabama	77	Public	21	46	8338	13815
University of Tulsa	83	Private	21	93	16764	16359
Case Western Reserve University	37	Private	21	76	23163	18381
Saint Louis University-Main Campus	92	Private	21	85	16039	23842
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	30	Public	20	46	7946	4101
Ohio State University-Main Campus	56	Public	20	69	6075	11683
Yeshiva University	46	Private	20	80	24035	15935
Marquette University	83	Private	20	100	12335	16728
New York University	32	Private	20	54	15720	25462
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	6	Private	19	61	31369	5672
University of Connecticut	63	Public	19	60	8711	7238
University of Rochester	33	Private	19	89	22455	13644
Clark University	83	Private	19	89	19585	15630
Brandeis University	33	Private	19	59	26075	16277
Colorado School of Mines	77	Public	19	65	5697	16834
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	41	Private	19	96	17933	20360
Fordham University	58	Private	19	91	17518	23593
Harvard University	1	Private	18	66	35758	1297
Columbia University in the City of New York	4	Private	18	52	35422	6277
Miami University-Oxford	89	Public	18	67	5702	15211
University of Southern California	24	Private	18	61	24811	15610
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	36	Public	17	29	5995	-203
Brown University	15	Private	17	46	31288	5056
University of Iowa	72	Public	17	50	7368	9323
Clemson University	68	Public	17	41	6793	9862
University of Denver	83	Private	17	83	17706	22486
Boston University	51	Private	17	55	23635	23932
Stanford University	6	Private	16	59	32152	5332
Rice University	17	Private	16	57	25523	5476
University of Pennsylvania	8	Private	16	48	32194	6529
Brigham Young University-Provo	68	Private	16	42	3383	8415
University of Colorado Boulder	97	Public	16	37	5860	12181
Boston College	31	Private	16	46	29050	13128
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	46	Public	16	29	6234	16839
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	58	Public	16	32	12306	17326
Lehigh University	38	Private	16	51	26036	18433
University of San Diego	92	Private	16	72	18184	20479
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	29	Public	15	47	10851	4778
University of Maryland-College Park	58	Public	15	51	6344	6283
University of Wisconsin-Madison	41	Public	15	40	4370	6363
Cornell University	15	Private	15	51	30529	8244
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	72	Public	15	38	3806	8492
University of Chicago	4	Private	15	60	25753	10228
Southern Methodist University	58	Private	15	77	21687	14040
Northwestern University	12	Private	15	56	27129	15174
Worcester Polytechnic Institute	65	Private	15	98	16608	23047
American University	77	Private	15	71	19776	27022
Auburn University	89	Public	14	62	9830	9574
Georgetown University	21	Private	14	49	28770	10603
Wake Forest University	27	Private	14	47	26156	19841
Texas Christian University	92	Private	14	67	13351	22193
University of Virginia-Main Campus	24	Public	13	27	12823	3543
Vanderbilt University	17	Private	13	59	35087	4124
Yale University	3	Private	13	59	35700	6025
Dartmouth College	10	Private	13	44	34335	7233
Duke University	8	Private	13	47	33403	8049
University of Delaware	75	Public	13	36	6899	9847
Tulane University of Louisiana	51	Private	13	80	24025	20345
Northeastern University	56	Private	13	80	18049	20587
Carnegie Mellon University	23	Private	13	57	21430	23173
University of Notre Dame	17	Private	12	57	27329	11939
Johns Hopkins University	13	Private	12	51	28582	13611
Princeton University	2	Private	11	59	32766	7545
College of William and Mary	33	Public	10	27	11608	5755
Tufts University	28	Private	10	39	27082	11081
California Institute of Technology	10	Private	9	51	28695	310
Washington University in St Louis	14	Private	6	45	23992	-1890

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Percentage of Freshman Receiving Pell Grants at Top 100 National Universities

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Percentage of Freshman Receiving Pell Grants
at Top 100 National Universities