對窮人和first gen順利畢業還另外可以加分 
Outcomes (35%)
More than one-third of a school's rank comes from its success at retaining and graduating students within 150% of normal time (six years). It receives the highest weight in our rankings because degree completion is necessary to receive the full benefits of undergraduate study from employers and graduate schools. We approach outcomes from angles of graduation and retention (22%), graduation rate performance (8%) and social mobility (5%).
Graduation and retention rates: This has two components.
- A four-year rolling average of the proportion of each entering class (fall 2009-fall 2012) earning a degree in six years or less (17.6%).
- A four-year rolling average of the proportion of first-year entering students (fall 2014-fall 2017) who returned the following fall (4.4%).
Graduation rate performance: We compared each college's actual six-year graduation rate with what we predicted for its fall 2012 entering class. The predicted rates were modeled from admissions data, proportion of undergraduates awarded Pell Grants, school financial resources, proportion of federal financial aid recipients who are first generation, and National Universities' math and science, or STEM, orientations.
The first-generation students variable was new for the 2020 rankings and in effect gives schools more credit for their graduation rates when accomplished with higher proportions of students who were the first in their immediate families to attend college. The data was sourced from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard. Its inclusion improved the model's predictive power.
Social mobility: Measures how well schools graduated students who received federal Pell Grants (those typically coming from households whose family incomes are less than $50,000 annually, though most Pell Grant money goes to students with a total family income below $20,000). New for the 2020 edition, data sourced from the federal government was used for nonresponders. Also, the below factors (weighted 2.5% each) were computed using two-year averages of fall 2011 and fall 2012 entering cohorts.
- Pell Grant graduation rates are the six-year graduation rates of Pell Grant students adjusted to give much more credit to schools with larger Pell student proportions.
- Pell Grant graduation rate performance is the factor that compares each school's six-year graduation rate among Pell recipients with its six-year graduation rate among non-Pell recipients by dividing the former into the latter, then adjusting to give much more credit to schools with larger Pell student proportions. The higher a school's Pell graduation rate relative to its non-Pell graduation rate up to the rates being equal, the better it scores.
U.S. News published a distinct social mobility ranking for all schools. The social mobility ranking is computed from the two ranking factors assessing graduation rates of Pell-awarded students (5% of the rankings total).
Additionally, for benchmarking purposes each schools’ ranking factors sections on its directory page includes both its social mobility rank and a distinct outcomes rank. Although the ranks themselves are not used to determine schools' overall rankings, they are displayed to enable prospective students, parents and institutions to make comparisons on related ranking factors. The outcomes rank also includes the two social mobility ranking factors but also average graduation rates, first-year retention rates and graduation rate performance that in total comprise 35% of a school's overall score.
We also changed how the graduation and retention rate benchmark ranking was calculated. It is once again computed from a school's total score in these two ranking indicators: average six-year graduation rate and average first-year retention rate. In the 2019 edition only, it was based on a school's score in these four ranking factors: average six-year graduation rate, average first-year retention rate, Pell Grant graduation rate and Pell Grant graduation rate performance.
