Forks down? Here’s how far ASU fell in this best colleges ranking

The Wall Street Journal ranked the top 500 universities in the country. Finding an Arizona school takes a lot of scrolling.

By Morgan Fischer

September 10, 2024

Arizona State University dropped 180 spots in The Wall Street Journal's ranking of the best colleges in the United States. Matt Hennie

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On Sept. 4, The Wall Street Journal released its annual ranking of the 500 best colleges in the country. No Arizona school made it into the top half.

The Journal, in collaboration with college-focused survey and research firm College Pulse and data researchers from Statista, examined a variety of metrics to come to its conclusions. Those included salary outcomes (70%), such as salary impact and years to pay off net education cost, learning environment (20%) and diversity (10%).

The Grand Canyon State did not fare well. Arizona’s three public universities appeared low on the list, and no private universities made the cut at all. And that’s despite the Journal expanding its ranking from 400 to 500 schools this year.

Arizona State University may proudly declare that it is No. 1 in innovation, according to the U.S. News & World Report, but it’s No. 252 according to the Journal. The Tempe-based school, which has the largest undergraduate enrollment in the nation, fell 180 spots after ranking 72nd a year ago. Though ASU ranked generally favorably in many metrics, such as facilities and diversity, the university took a hit in salary impact score and graduation rate in 2024.

It’s a similar story for the University of Arizona, which is welcoming a new president as the school deals with a massive $240 million budget shortfall. The Journal ranked U of A 279th this year, a 169-spot drop from a year ago.

The last of the Arizona colleges on the Journal’s list is Northern Arizona University, which barely made the cut at No. 441. That, too, is a big drop from last year, when NAU also just snuck onto the list at No. 329 in a year when the Journal’s ranking went only to 400. Compared with U of A and ASU, NAU had much lower graduation and salary impact scores.

Grand Canyon University — the private Phoenix-based for-profit school that the Department of Education fined $37.7 million last year for misleading students — did not make the list in either of the last two years.

As for the best colleges in the country, New Jersey's Princeton University tops the Journal's list, followed by Babson College in Massachusetts and Stanford University in California.

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Morgan Fischer joined Phoenix New Times as a staff writer in July 2024, covering all things Phoenix and Arizona news. Before joining New Times, Morgan has worked as a national politics intern at The Arizona Republic and as a reporter for News21, among other positions. She holds degrees in journalism and mass communication and political science from Arizona State University, where she also attended Barrett, The Honors College.

Contact: Morgan Fischer