Siena College ranks 79th nationally and tops in New York state in the just-released 2017 Educate to Career (ETC) College Rankings Index. The ranking placed Siena as a 2017 Top-100 Best Value College from the nonprofit organization which focuses on students improving their college-to-career outcomes.
The ETC Index ranks colleges based on the added value they provide graduates in terms of the increase in employability and earnings derived from attending. The Index is comprised of accredited four-year colleges, with annual enrollments greater than 750 students, and includes data for almost 1,200 colleges, representing 96% of all students enrolled in 4-year colleges.
According to the ETC, the Index was developed to identify schools that provide a quality education with proven career placement records, at the lowest possible cost. The ETC defines quality education as the development of a skill set that is marketable, i.e. a real career with stable earnings.
“Unlike other ranking systems, we rank the colleges – not the students,” Michael Havis, president of ETC said in the release announcing the rankings.
The ETC Index salary numbers differ from other sources because they take into consideration all persons employed full time, within one year of graduation. This methodology contrasts with the typical practice of only reporting students who went on to gain employment in their field of study.
The ETC methodology also controls for the aptitude of the student populations for all schools ranked, by using the SAT to assign weights to students in an attempt to better account for educational attainment.
This is the second top-100 value ranking Siena has received, with both assigning heavy weight to the return on investment a Siena education provides. In July Siena was named one of Money’s 100 Top Colleges. Money’s value rankings evaluated colleges on educational quality, affordability and career earnings to help families find great schools that are worth the investment.
Siena was one of just two schools in New York that earned Best Value distinction from ETC. St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. placed 100th in the rankings report.
