Data Show Which Top-Ranked Colleges Operate Most Efficiently

Ohio’s Miami University–Oxford took top honors as the most efficient school among National Universities and Michigan’s Hope College was most efficient among National Liberal Arts Colleges in an exclusive U.S. News analysis that compared spending and educational quality.

For this analysis, U.S. News looked at the public and private colleges that scored the highest on overall undergraduate academic educational quality, as measured by their position in the 2015 Best Colleges rankings, but that spent relatively less on their educational programs to achieve that quality.

Amid restricted growth in many state budgets to fund higher education and increased public scrutiny about the rising cost of going to college, it’s vitally important for many colleges to efficiently spend their limited resources to produce the highest possible educational quality.

U.S. News measures financial resources by taking into account how much a school spends per student on instruction, research, student services and related educational expenditures. The financial resources indicator has a 10 percent weight in the Best Colleges ranking methodology.

The lists below are based on operating efficiency, which U.S. News has defined as a school’s 2013 fiscal year financial resources per student divided by its overall score — the basis U.S. News uses to determine its overall numerical rank — in the 2015 Best Colleges rankings.

This calculation reveals how much each school is spending to achieve one point in its overall score and thus its position in the rankings. The premise of the analysis is that the less a school spent relative to its position in the overall rankings, the more efficient it was in its ability to produce a top-quality education.

Schools that are featured on these lists are doing a good job in managing their financial resources relative to other schools that may have far greater financial resources because of more state funding, higher tuition or larger endowments. In the National Universities category, many of the schools listed are likely to be more affordable in terms of tuition than others in the same category, since most of them are public universities.

Only schools that were numerically ranked in the top half of their ranking category in the 2015 Best Colleges rankings were included in this analysis.

The tables below show the schools in each of the 10 U.S. News ranking categories that scored the highest on operating efficiency. Note: A school’s overall rank is partly based on a two-year average of expenditures per student; the financial resources figures displayed below reflect only the most recent year.

National Universities

School (state)	U.S. News National Universities rank	Overall score	Financial resources rank	Spending per student for each point in the U.S. News overall score
Miami University–Oxford (OH)	76	50	205	$383.66
Florida State University	95	47	214	$392.77
University of Alabama	88	48	198	$423.02
Binghamton University–SUNY	88	48	185	$437.23
College of William and Mary (VA)	33	67	110	$441.82
Brigham Young University–Provo (UT)	62	56	156	$457.29
Indiana University–Bloomington	76	50	156	$469
Clemson University (SC)	62	56	138	$486.02
University of Missouri	99	46	171	$499.61
Clark University (MA)	76	50	145	$502.24
Texas Christian University	76	50	145	$505.80
University of Georgia	62	56	117	$512.04
Arizona State University–Tempe	129	39	192	$523.67
University of South Carolina	113	43	171	$529.51
Texas A&M University–College Station	68	55	103	$534.65
University of Oregon	106	44	156	$537.02
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey–New Brunswick	70	53	103	$537.32
Duquesne University (PA)	116	42	171	$543.31
DePaul University (IL)	121	41	177	$544.78
Ohio University	129	39	192	$545.13
Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ)	76	50	110	$548.04
Syracuse University (NY)	58	57	95	$556.18
Boston College	31	69	71	$565.14
Virginia Tech	71	52	117	$565.67
University of Massachusetts–Amherst	76	50	117	$567.72

National Liberal Arts Colleges

School (state)	U.S. News National Liberal Arts Colleges rank	Overall score	Financial resources rank	Spending per student for each point in the U.S. News overall score
Hope College (MI)	99	54	179	$396.15
College of St. Benedict (MN)	89	56	163	$426.18
Augustana College (IL)	105	53	171	$429.92
Luther College (IA)	89	56	154	$432.25
Gustavus Adolphus College (MN)	64	62	116	$446.81
Rhodes College (TN)	54	67	97	$449.24
Kalamazoo College (MI)	64	62	95	$451.02
Knox College (IL)	81	58	122	$457.19
Cornell College (IA)	105	53	158	$458.51
St. Olaf College (MN)	54	67	97	$459.78

Regional Universities (South)

School (state)	U.S. News Regional Universities (South) rank	Overall score	Financial resources rank	Spending per student for each point in the U.S. News overall score
Appalachian State University (NC)	9	78	80	$162.96
James Madison University (VA)	6	84	63	$173.94
University of North Georgia	60	42	125	$200.98
University of North Carolina–Wilmington	16	70	70	$206.30
Belmont University (TN)	5	85	34	$206.78

Regional Universities (North)

School (state)	U.S. News Regional Universities (North) rank	Overall score	Financial resources rank	Spending per student for each point in the U.S. News overall score
SUNY–Geneseo	14	69	145	$235.57
Towson University (MD)	60	49	176	$249.92
Salisbury University (MD)	65	48	178	$252.27
West Chester University of Pennsylvania	65	48	171	$286.02
College of New Jersey	3	80	43	$296.03

Regional Universities (West)

School (state)	U.S. News Regional Universities (West) rank	Overall score	Financial resources rank	Spending per student for each point in the U.S. News overall score
California Polytechnic State University–San Luis Obispo	10	73	55	$222.36
Western Washington University	21	57	85	$229.07
California State University–Long Beach	33	48	110	$236.88
California State Polytechnic University–Pomona	31	49	94	$237.04
Gonzaga University (WA)	3	89	20	$245.34

Regional Universities (Midwest)

School (state)	U.S. News Regional Universities (Midwest) rank	Overall score	Financial resources rank	Spending per student for each point in the U.S. News overall score
Truman State University (MO)	9	77	106	$162.78
University of Wisconsin–La Crosse	31	59	113	$202.86
University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire	33	58	103	$224.52
Grand Valley State University (MI)	26	62	86	$233.48
University of Wisconsin–Whitewater	48	49	122	$236.61

Regional Colleges (South)

School (state)	U.S. News Regional Colleges (South) rank	Overall score	Financial resources rank	Spending per student for each point in the U.S. News overall score
North Greenville University (SC)	25	69	74	$152.28
Flagler College (FL)	8	88	48	$166.42
Bryan College (TN)	22	71	67	$169.89
Anderson University (SC)	21	72	71	$172.83
Asbury University (KY)	1	100	27	$175.84

Regional Colleges (North)

School (state)	U.S. News Regional Colleges (North) rank	Overall score	Financial resources rank	Spending per student for each point in the U.S. News overall score
Messiah College (PA)	5	68	13	$353.18
Lebanon Valley College (PA)	6	63	15	$371.24
Geneva College (PA)	14	48	33	$383.63
Merrimack College (MA)	9	54	20	$387.70
Wentworth Institute of Technology (MA)	12	50	30	$387.76

Regional Colleges (West)

School (state)	U.S. News Regional Colleges (West) rank	Overall score	Financial resources rank	Spending per student for each point in the U.S. News overall score
Oklahoma Baptist University	4	84	16	$190.24
Oregon Institute of Technology	8	75	19	$198.21
Oklahoma Wesleyan University	6	81	7	$229.53
Texas Lutheran University	2	95	4	$233.43
Northwest University (WA)	16	63	16	$250.16

Regional Colleges (Midwest)

School (state)	U.S. News Regional Colleges (Midwest) rank	Overall score	Financial resources rank	Spending per student for each point in the U.S. News overall score
Benedictine College (KS)	20	67	66	$208.85
Morningside College (IA)	23	63	56	$223.19
Dordt College (IA)	5	80	30	$228.84
Taylor University (IN)	1	100	5	$240.64
Clarke University (IA)	17	71	41	$250.15