University ranked fifth best public institution

While the University’s rankings in last week’s U.S. News & World Report did not change drastically, the school made strides in a number of smaller categories.

In “America's Best Colleges,” a comprehensive list of the nation’s top schools, UNC ranked fifth out of public universities — the same as last year — and tied for 27th overall — a jump from 29th last year.

The University tied for 27th with Tufts and Wake Forest universities.

Officials said that they were pleased by the jump in rankings, but that they believe the list does not truly reflect the University.

“We’re not driven by the rankings, but we pay attention to them,” Provost Robert Shelton said.

Administrators attributed UNC’s two-spot jump to the 11- point gain in the category of faculty resources — up to 39th from 50th last year. This followed another large jump — 21 points — from the year before.

Criteria for faculty resources include measures in class size, faculty compensation and student-faculty ratio.

Officials said the jump in the category was caused by increased funds from revenue sources.

“It reflects the combination of state funds that helped faculty salaries, enrollment increases that raised money, and the campus-based tuition increases that helped with faculty salaries,” Shelton said.

He said that for the first time, the University’s faculty resources are growing faster than its peer public institutions.

Fifty-four percent of the University’s class selections enroll fewer than 20 students — second only to UC-Berkeley, which has 58 percent.

Future budget cuts would hamper the University’s ability to stay in the ring with its peer institutions, said Jerry Lucido, vice provost for admissions and enrollment management.

“How can we stay competitive with our faculty when we’re bringing in fewer resources in that sense?” Lucido said. “It’s gonna be much more difficult to achieve those rankings without those resources.”

Administrators downplayed the magazine’s criteria, claiming that the rankings favor the private universities and put emphasis on private endowments.

For public institutions, the University of California-Berkeley garnered top honors. The University of Virginia came in second, and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the University of California-Los Angeles tied for third.

However, overall rankings for the top public universities put UC-Berkeley at 20th, with Michigan and UCLA tied for 25th.

“Those universities that are really well endowed have so much money to enhance the education of students,” said Shirley Ort, associate provost and director for Scholarships and Student Aid.

“It’s hard for schools like Carolina to take budget cuts and still try to give a superior undergraduate education.”

Administrators said they understand many prospective college students follow the rankings, but they emphasized that the rankings can never truly reflect the University and its students.

“You just can’t capture the totality of the Carolina experience with these rankings,” Shelton said.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.