Baruch College Ranks #1 Nationwide for Social Mobility for Sixth Straight Year

December 7, 2020

For the sixth consecutive year, Baruch College placed #1 for social mobility, among 1,449 higher education institutions across the country, according to CollegeNET.

In its annual data-driven analysis, CollegeNET’s Social Mobility Index (SMI) measures “how effectively  four-year colleges and universities enroll students from low-income backgrounds and graduate them into good paying jobs.“

“This year—and every year since 2015—Baruch College was deemed by CollegeNET to be the highest performing institution in the nation for advancing social mobility and economic opportunity for low-income students,” said Baruch College President S. David Wu. “This prominent recognition reflects Baruch’s legacy of providing the most rigorous academic programs at an affordable price to students from all backgrounds and social classes, especially those in our underserved communities.”

In addition to Baruch securing the top spot, four other colleges from The City University of New York system ranked within the SMI’s top 20: Queens College at #8, Hunter College at #9, Lehman College at #11, and Brooklyn College at #17.

Baruch’s #1 ranking for social mobility closely follows the announcement of a $1 million gift from Bank of America to fund comprehensive new initiatives supporting education and career development programs that prepare Black and Latino students to enter the professional workforce.

The College is the first higher education institution in the Northeast selected by Bank of America to be part of the company’s $25 million initiative, which includes partnerships with nearly two dozen higher education institutions across the country.

Recognized Leader in Diversity, Academic Excellence, and Value

Baruch College is consistently recognized as a catalyst for the economic and social mobility of its diverse student population. The College’s students hail from 168 countries and speak more than 100 languages. Racial and ethnic minorities, including many recent immigrants and children of immigrants, make up 69 percent of the College’s undergraduate population.

In the past six months alone, Baruch College has earned nationwide honors for its high-quality academic programs, and successfully advancing students to career success:

• #1: Brookings Institution’s “Opportunity Engines: Middle-Class Mobility in Higher Education” report
• #1: Forbes’ “America’s Best Value Colleges 2019” among public institutions in the Northeast
• #1: Money’s “Best Colleges in America, Ranked by Value” in New York State
• #2: U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Regional Universities-North”

Watch: Learn more about Baruch’s three schools—Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, and Zicklin School of Business—as well as other campus programs and activities by viewing our virtual tours.

Methodology

CollegeNET’s Social Mobility Index is computed from five variables: published tuition, percent of student body whose families whose incomes are below $48,000 (slightly below the US median), graduation rate, median salary approximately five years after graduation, and endowment. The SMI is calculated using tiers based on three concepts: access, outcome, and institutional capability. CollegeNET collects data from third party sources including the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard and IPEDS. More information about the SMI is available here.

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