Weighing the Efficiency of Highly Ranked Universities

Florida State University finished first and Ohio's Miami University--Oxford placed second in the National Universities category of an exclusive U.S. News list of most efficient schools. These schools were able to produce the highest educational quality, as determined by their place in the 2014 Best Colleges rankings, but spend relatively less on educational programs to achieve that quality.

U.S. News has analyzed efficiency for a second time as both public and private universities continue to face tight budgets -- a result of reduced state appropriations and growing consumer resistance to higher tuition. That means it's imperative for many colleges to spend their limited resources efficiently in order to produce the highest possible educational quality.

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

U.S. News defines operating efficiency for this list as a school's 2012 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 2014 Best Colleges rankings. This calculation reveals how much each school is spending to achieve one point in the overall score and its position in the rankings.

The less a school is spending relative to its rank, the more efficient it is at producing a quality education among its peers. In order to appear on the list, schools had to be numerically ranked in the top half of their U.S. News ranking category in the Best Colleges 2014 rankings.

This means the colleges and universities on the list are doing a very good job at producing a top ranking for academic quality while carefully spending their available financial resources, as measured relative to other schools that may have greater sources of funding from states, tuition or endowments. Since many of the colleges on the list are public universities, they are likely to be more affordable in terms of tuition relative to others in their ranking category.

The tables below show the colleges in all 10 U.S. News ranking categories that scored highest in operating efficiency and still achieved a top rank. Colleges are listed according to their U.S. News ranking category in ascending order, based on how much they spent per student to achieve their 2014 Best Colleges overall score, using the fiscal year 2012 financial resources per student spending submitted to U.S. News in our 2013 annual survey. Also listed is their 2014 Best Colleges financial resources rank.

Note: A school's overall rank is partly based on a two-year average of expenditures per student; the financial resources figures per U.S. News overall score point displayed below reflect only the most recent year.

National Universities

National Liberal Arts Colleges

Regional Universities (South)

Regional Universities (North)

Regional Universities (West)

Regional Universities (Midwest)

Regional Colleges (South)

Regional Colleges (North)

Regional Colleges (West)

Regional Colleges (Midwest)