Washington Monthly Ranks Rutgers-Newark High on the List of Schools Offering "Best Bang for the Buck"

Rutgers University–Newark is number 6 among Northeast schools in the “Best Bang for the Buck” category of Washington Monthly’s 2022 College Rankings, placing it among the top schools for the return students get on their investment in tuition.

Washington Monthly touts its guide as the “socially conscious alternative” to U.S. News & World Report’s rankings system.  “Instead of rating colleges by wealth, fame, and exclusivity, we prize social mobility, public service, and research,’’ the publication proclaims, emphasizing marketable degrees at affordable prices.

The “Best Bang for the Buck” category evaluates factors such as the cost of attendance for families earning under $75,00 and median graduate earnings 10 years after entering college. It also considers the number of Pell graduates and rates of college loan repayment, among other qualities.

Rutgers-Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor said RU-N’s position on the list reflects the university’s history and enduring priorities.

“We continually ask ourselves what the world needs from us, and one of the things it needs most is for college to be affordable,” she said. “From our founding, Rutgers-Newark has been an institution focused on increasing educational opportunity and on innovation that makes a difference. This latest citation of Rutgers-Newark’s value proposition underscores that. It sends a strong message that we’re both making college affordable and positioning our students for success.”

The Washington Monthly guide is critical of policies that exclude lower income students and fail to prepare them for careers that maximize their earning potential.

“The other rankings elevate colleges for keeping low-income students out. Ours reward them for letting those students in, and then helping them graduate with degrees that lead to good jobs, without unmanageable debt,’’ according to the publication’s report.

In addition to the Washington Monthly ranking, Rutgers-Newark was ranked number one in the nation for “return on investment” among institutions with a high percentage of low-income students, according to a 2022 report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

Among all national universities, US News & World Report placed Rutgers-Newark at number three in its social mobility category. This year, The Wall Street Journal ranked RU-N highest among schools in the Northeast for student and faculty diversity.