For the third consecutive year, SUNY Old Westbury ranks among the leading institutions for social mobility in the annual U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings. SUNY Old Westbury ranked 11th in the publication's "2021 America's Best Colleges" this year among more than 170 universities in the Northeast.
Introduced in 2019 as part of the U.S. News Best Colleges rankings, the social mobility category considers the degree to which an institution elevates its low-income graduates to a higher standard of living. As rankings leaders such as U.S. News have adjusted their formulas in the past few years, they increasingly consider social mobility among the leading measures of higher education success.
“Education is a powerful means to change your life,” said College President Timothy Sams. “While our students do most of the heavy lifting, we at SUNY Old Westbury are proud to provide a transformative liberal arts education that helps our students own their futures.”
Since its founding, Old Westbury has focused its mission to provide access and opportunity to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Recognized as a Minority Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education, the College is widely recognized among the most diverse institutions in the nation with more than 60 percent of its student body made up of people of color. Approximately 40 percent of its student body were Pell Grant eligible in 2020-2021, the latest year for which complete figures are available.
“To be the socially responsible leaders our society needs, students must prepare themselves to live and work with people of differing races, creeds and cultures,” said Sams. “For that reason, Old Westbury’s learning environment, which offers interactions with people from all walks of life, is incredibly valuable.”