Five schools notified U.S. News that they misreported data used to calculate their rankings for the 2019 edition of Best Colleges. The schools are the University of California—Berkeley, Scripps College, Mars Hill University, the University of North Carolina—Pembroke and Johnson & Wales University.

What Does This Mean?

The misreporting by each school resulted in their numerical ranks being higher than they otherwise would have been. Because of the discrepancies, U.S. News has moved the schools to the "Unranked" category, meaning they do not receive numerical ranks.

All five schools' Unranked status will last until the publication of the next edition of the Best Colleges rankings and until the schools confirm the accuracy of their next data submission in accordance with U.S. News' requirements. All other schools' rankings in the 2019 Best Colleges will remain the same on usnews.com.

Additionally, unranked schools in the overall Best Colleges ranking are also ineligible to be ranked in the Best Value Schools, A-plus Schools for B Students, Top Public Schools and Best Colleges for Veterans rankings.

When Did This Happen?

The schools notified U.S. News that they misreported data used to calculate their 2019 Best Colleges rankings. These notifications occurred during the data collection period for the 2020 edition of Best Colleges, which happened in the spring and early summer of 2019. These data collection periods are another opportunity for schools to see their previous year's data.

These schools originally submitted the incorrect data during the spring and summer 2018 data collection period and also completed the verification process, assuring U.S. News that the information was accurate.

How Does This Happen?

Misreporting is rare, and U.S. News takes misreporting very seriously. In addition to the rankings, U.S. News publishes data provided by schools in order to assist consumers as they evaluate their education options.

U.S. News relies on schools to accurately report their data, and U.S. News reviews the Best Colleges data in a number of different ways. This includes flagging year-over-year discrepancies, comparing data against federal government sources when available and asking a school official to sign off on the school's data.

What Now?

The Unranked status has been noted on each school's profile page on usnews.com. In addition, for the benefit of prospective students, U.S. News has deleted the incorrect data from the schools' profile pages and in the U.S. News College Compass tool.

Below are brief explanations pertaining to each college's data misreporting issue.

Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island recently told U.S. News that for many years the school had been over-reporting its financial resource expenditures budget for its Providence campus. The school had been reporting financial expenditures data for all Johnson & Wales campuses to U.S. News instead of just for the Providence campus. The school told U.S. News that for every $100 of financial resources expenditures it had reported, it should have been around $62. Financial resources expenditures per student accounts for 10% of the Best Colleges ranking.

The University of California—Berkeley originally reported that its two-year average alumni giving rate for fiscal years 2017 and 2016 was 11.6%. Recently the school said that its correct average alumni giving rate for just fiscal year 2016 was 7.9%.

The University of California—Berkeley also told U.S. News that it incorrectly included pledges in the alumni giving data provided to U.S. News since at least 2014. This doesn't follow the U.S. News definition, which is based on federal government and industry standards that clearly state only tax-deductible gifts should be included, excluding pledges that don't qualify for an IRS charitable deduction. This means that UC—Berkeley has greatly overstated its alumni giving data to U.S. News annually since 2014. Alumni giving rate accounts for 5% of the Best Colleges ranking.

In light of these misreporting issues, U.S. News has requested University of California—Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ, University of California system President Janet Napolitano and Johnson & Wales University Chancellor Mim L. Runey and Johnson & Wales University Providence Campus President Marie Bernardo-Sousa to provide a letter certifying the accuracy of their respective schools' data in their data submissions to U.S. News for the next three editions of the Best Colleges rankings. These letters are below.

Additionally, due to misreporting in 2018 for the 2019 edition of Best Colleges, U.S. News has unranked Mars Hill University in North Carolina, the University of North Carolina—Pembroke and Scripps College in California. Mars Hill University and Scripps College misreported alumni giving rates, and the University of North Carolina—Pembroke misreported high school class standing. Further information is available here.

Read the full letter U.S. News sent to Johnson & Wales University below.

