All colleges and universities strive to top the “Best of” lists, which signal to prospective students the prestige of their institution or programs. But the ways these rankings are determined can put institutions that serve post-traditional students – who are often older, attend school part-time while they work, or don’t take a full course load at an on-campus university each fall – at a disadvantage.

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System surveys serve as one of the main information sources for some of the lists. The IPEDS surveys gather metrics for degrees awarded, enrollment figures, cost of attendance, and retention and graduation rates.

Additionally, fall-to-fall retention rates from campus-based colleges are a core component of the Common Data Set — a collaborative information-sharing and reporting effort among data providers in higher education and media publishing. The CDS reporting guidelines play a key part in at least one influential outlet’s college rankings.

Yet these metrics are geared toward historically “traditional” learners, as they tend to focus on data from first-time, full-time degree-seeking students entering college in the fall semester.

However, the higher education landscape has evolved. In 2021, 41% of part-time undergraduate students were ages 25 and older, according to federal data. Additionally, 28% of all undergraduate students took exclusively distance education courses, with 61% enrolled in at least one distance education course.

Post-traditional students are often overlooked in the Common Data Set and IPEDS data. In fact, they’re only captured in roughly half of the IPEDS survey components. For example, they may not be included if they are taking one class at a time, starting their next class in months other than the traditional fall semester months of August, September or October, or are not first-time students.

Take, for example, a 27-year-old that enrolled part-time in December to get an MBA. Say that the student pauses taking classes to take care of a sick parent and resumes schooling in April, completing a degree the following year. That student has found success in higher education and made a choice that worked for their professional and personal needs, which wasn't necessarily reflect in college rankings.

Read the full article about college rankings by Becky Takeda-Tinker at Higher Ed Dive.