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Survey Ranks "Best Neighbor" Colleges

Survey Ranks "Best Neighbor" Colleges
10/13/2009
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Scholarships.com Staff

Most of you know what a college town looks like - a community dominated by the students, faculty and staff of the school that occupies the community there. While many students prefer to apply to the more insulated school environment that comes with a college town, others seek out educations in cities where there's more to the community than the college housed there. Something those students may not consider when filing their applications is whether that intended school has been a good neighbor or a stranger to that surrounding community.

A survey presented yesterday by Dr. Evan S. Dobelle, the president of Westfield State College, ranked 25 colleges based on just that. The survey, called "Saviors of Our Cities: A Survey of Best College and University Civic Partnerships", looked at schools' contributions to the towns and cities they're found in, and which had the best relationships with the residential and business communities in those locations. The top 25 schools were picked based on their positive impacts on their communities, including community service involvement. Another 100 schools were recognized on the survey's "Honor Roll" of friendly neighbors.

The best neighbors according to Dobelle's survey were the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California, tied for number one. Neither Westfield nor the two other schools Dobelle was once president at - Trinity College and the University of Hawaii - made the list. Dobelle, a researcher specializing in public/private partnerships, collected his data by sending the survey he composed to schools across the country for distribution in their communities. Some schools were then contacted for on-campus visits or interviews. The University of Pennsylvania was chosen based on its work with schools in West Philadelphia; the University of Southern California got high marks for working on a program that revitalized businesses in Los Angeles.

Other schools that ranked in the top 25 on Dobelle's list included Tulane University, Portland State University, and the University of Dayton. His specific criteria included real dollars invested, a quantifiable increase in positive recognition of the institution and the length of involvement with the community, among others. Dobelle first came up with the survey in 2006. As colleges are obviously closely linked to their communities in college towns, those schools weren't considered in the survey in favor of looking at urban universities' relationships with their towns and cities.

So what do you think? Should the "good neighbor" factor be included in a student's college search? Do you attend a particularly  neighborly institution? Let us know your thoughts.

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