Arkansas Tech ranked top 5% in social mobility

A report from CollegeNET shows Arkansas Tech University in Russellville ranks among the top 5% of colleges and universities nationwide in terms of opportunity for upward mobility for its students.

CollegeNET’s 2017 Social Mobility Index (SMI) looks at the economic background of a university’s student body and compares it to early career salary for graduates, while also taking into account schools’ tuition rate, graduation rate and endowment.

ATU received an SMI score of 57.8, ranking 68^th among the 1,363 institutions looked at in the survey. It marks the second consecutive year in which ATU has been among the top 70 institutions in the nation, and it is the fourth consecutive year in which ATU has been No. 1 in social mobility in Arkansas, according to a press release from ATU.

Tuition for ATU Was listed by SMI as $6,192, and the median early salary for graduates was $43,500. The report shows ATU has 47% low-income students and a graduation rate of 46%. Its endowment is listed as $23.2 million.

University of Central Arkansas in Conway came in second statewide, ranking 208 nationally. Philander Smith College in Little Rock ranked 283, Henderson State University ranked 335 and University of Arkansas-Fort Smith ranked 341.

The bottom five from Arkansas were Central Baptist College in Conway, which ranked 1304 and in the bottom 5% nationwide, Hendrix College in Conway at 1233, Lyon College in Batesville at 1210, Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia at 872 and the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville at 843.

PSC had the highest percentage of low-income students statewide at 85%. UA had the lowest at 12%, according to the data. UA also had the highest graduate salary at $49,100, and PSC had the lowest at $34,700.

UAFS had the lowest tuition, listed at $5,062, and Hendrix had the highest, listed at $40,870. Hendrix had the highest graduation rate at 68%, while University of Arkansas at Monticello had the lowest at 22%.

UA was listed as having the largest endowment at $948.6 million, and Central Baptist had the smallest in the state at $2.8 million, according to the SMI.

“The new SMI rankings show that through wise policy-making, colleges and universities can be part of improving both economic opportunity and social stability in our country,” Jim Wolfston, president of CollegeNET, said on the SMI website. “Let’s recast the chase for quality to include lowering tuition, recruiting more economically disadvantaged students and ensuring that enrolled students graduate into good paying jobs.”

CollegeNET is a Portland, Oregon-based American developer of web technology for higher education and nonprofit institutions.