UC Berkeley Booted From U.S. News & World Best College List After Misreporting Donations
BERKELEY (CBS SF/CBS) - The University of California at Berkeley lost its ranking on one of the nation's most renowned college ranking lists.
U.S. News & World Report removed UC Berkeley from the number 2 spot on its Top Public School list, for misreporting its alumni donation data, and placed it, along with five other schools in an "unranked" category.
UC, along with Scripps College, Mars Hill University, the University of North Carolina–Pembroke and Johnson & Wales University will remain unranked until next year's publication.
Now, UCLA tops the list of top public schools.
"Misreporting is rare, and U.S. News takes misreporting very seriously," the publication wrote. "In addition to the rankings, U.S. News publishes data provided by schools in order to assist consumers as they evaluate their education options."
According to the publication, UC Berkeley originally reported that its two-year average alumni giving rate for fiscal years 2017 and 2016 was 11.6%. The school later told U.S. News it had incorrectly included pledges, and the adjusted average alumni giving rate for just fiscal year 2016 was just 7.9%.
The school incorrectly overstated its alumni giving data to U.S. News since at least 2014. The alumni giving rate accounts for 5% of the Best Colleges ranking.
Every year since 1983 , U.S. News and World Report has published its "America's Best Colleges" report. Millions of students have used the rankings and lists to help them in their college search.
