The students are taking advantage of this at universities all over the country. The schools are all vying for coveted spots on ranking systems like US News and World Report, etc. the schools are “manipulating” their own rankings by constantly shifting to whatever criteria these ranking systems use to determine an assessment of what makes a “good/great” education. These rankings are crazy with some of the things. They use to make those assessments, alumni donations after graduation, cost of attending (the more the cost, the better the education must be, right? Uh, no. But more foreign students paying insane amounts to attend give them a higher score), how much they pay faculty, graduation rates (schools with high Pell grant student body get nailed on that one as many only go for 1-2 years and drop out). It is a total shit show and there is an arms race to get in the top 50, it is sales and marketing, and they don’t care about the outcome, only the ranking and the prestige (and ultimately profits) that come with a manipulated ranking. They all do it.
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