College Comparison Tool

Methodology for “Overall Score”

 Using the most recent final data available from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) — in this case, for the 2016-17 school year — we generated a list of colleges and universities that met the following criteria:

• Level of institution is either “Four or more years” or “At least 2 but less than 4 years”
• At least 1% of students are taking at least some of the classes via distance education
• Data is reported for all 14 ranking variables listed in the Methodology section

We ranked 2,503 colleges on 14 criteria, using the provisional 2016-17 data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the weights specified:

• Number of programs offered via distance education
• Ratio of students participating fully or partially in distance education to total enrollment
• Average in-state tuition for undergraduate and, if applicable, graduate students
• Total electronic library collections, including digital books, databases and media
• Graduation rate
• Retention rate
• The availability of the following tuition plans:
• Payment plan
• Guaranteed tuition plan
• Other alternative tuition plan
• The availability of academic/ career counseling services
• The availability of job placement services for graduates
• The availability of virtual reference services
• Offers dual credit
• Offers credit for life experience
• Offers advanced placement (AP) credit
• Offers credit for military training

All schools were scored on a 10-point scale for each of the points listed above. Individual data point scores were then multiplied by their respective weights, and the scores were added together, for a maximum possible score of 10 points.

NOTE: Schools’ tuition amounts are based on 2016-17 undergraduate and graduate data reported to the National Center for Education Statistics. The actual cost of tuition may vary.

Sources:

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 2017-18, National Center for Education Statistics, http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/