UC Berkeley falls from U.S. News & World Report’s ranking after misreporting data
UC Berkeley has been removed from the U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 Best Colleges rankings after notifying the media outlet that it misreported its two-year average alumni giving rate, which accounts for 5% of the overall score for the rankings. (Tanmay Shankar/Assistant Photo editor)
By Julia Shapero
July 26, 2019 2:09 p.m.
UC Berkeley has been removed from the U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 Best Colleges rankings after notifying the media outlet that it misreported data.
The university, which was the No. 2 public university in the rankings, has subsequently been moved to the “unranked” category in the standings.
According to the announcement from U.S. News, UC Berkeley originally reported that its two-year average alumni giving rate for the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years was 11.6%. However, it recently said its correct 2016 giving rate was only 7.9%.
The university had been incorrectly including pledges in alumni giving data, which led to the incorrect higher number. UC Berkeley had been reporting the incorrect figure, which accounts for 5% of the overall score for the Best Colleges rankings, since at least 2014.
U.S. News sent a letter to UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ and University of California President Janet Napolitano requesting they provide a signed letter certifying the accuracy of the university’s data reported to the media outlet for the next three editions of the rankings, beginning with the 2020 Best Colleges rankings set to be released in September.
Four other universities — Scripps College, Mars Hill University, the University of North Carolina, Pembroke, and Johnson & Wales University — also notified U.S. News that they misreported data and were removed from the standings.
The overall rankings on the list remain unchanged, with UCLA at No. 1 for public universities.
