We made two significant changes to this year’s version of the College Access Index — a measure of economic diversity at top colleges that The Upshot created last year. First, we expanded the group of colleges in the index, by lowering the graduation rate needed to be included. Last year, we examined only colleges with a four-year graduation rate of at least 75 percent. That may not seem like an overly stringent bar, but it ended up including only two public colleges in the entire country (the University of Virginia and William & Mary), as well as almost 100 private colleges. That fact is a sign of a big weakness with American higher education: Dropout rates are often very high. This year, we changed the criteria to a five-year graduation rate of at least 75 percent. This change expanded the list to 179 colleges, including many more public colleges. The overall goal remains the same: examining economic diversity at colleges where graduation is the norm.

September 16, 2015 ・ From The New York Times