Magazine ranks SCSU ninth among universities
By LEE HENDREN, T&D Staff Writer Thursday, September 07, 2006South Carolina State University is ninth among national universities in this year’s Washington Monthly college rankings.
The Orangeburg institution was 40th in the magazine’s inaugural list published last year.
The magazine said its rankings consider how well universities foster scientific and humanistic research, promote an ethic of service to country and help the poor increase their social mobility.
The research score is based on research spending, the number of PhDs awarded in the sciences and engineering and the percentage of undergraduate alumni who have gone on to receive a PhD.
The community service score incorporates the percentage of students enrolled in ROTC, the percentage of alumni currently serving in the Peace Corps and the percentage of federal work-study grants devoted to community service projects.
S.C. State has had a strong military science program for many decades. It has produced more than 1,900 commissioned officers and a dozen generals.
Social mobility is calculated by comparing actual graduation rates to predicted rates based on the number of students who receive Pell Grants.
More than 70 percent of S.C. State’s students receive Pell Grants. The university’s graduation rate is 53 percent.
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Washington Monthly ranks the University of South Carolina at number 128 and Clemson University at 131 in the category of national universities.
U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings – which are based on significantly different types of factors – put USC at 109 and Clemson at 78. S.C. State was not ranked.
In the category of liberal arts colleges, Washington Monthly ranks Presbyterian College at 21, Wofford College at 29, Furman University at 37 and Coastal Carolina University at 183.
U.S. News ranked PC at 100, Wofford at 55 and Furman at 41. Coastal Carolina was not ranked.
n T&D Staff Writer Lee Hendren can be reached by e-mail at lhendren@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5552. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.
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