Pitt-Bradford at top of Pennsylvania public schools in Washington Monthly rankings

Washington Monthly’s annual college ranking has recognized the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford for a ninth year as a substantial value college and one that contributes to the public good.

Washington Monthly uses information from the federal College Scorecard to base its national college rankings on social mobility, research and community, and national service.

Pitt-Bradford was one of the top two public institutions in Pennsylvania on the magazine’s list of Best Bang for the Buck schools in the Northeast. Pitt-Bradford ranked 16th in the Northeast in a measure of median earnings for alumni nine years after entering college, which is $55,745. By that measure, it was the highest-ranking public school that is not a maritime college.

Additionally, Pitt-Bradford was the third-ranked Pennsylvania public college in a nationwide ranking of colleges and universities that focus on students earning bachelor’s -- as opposed to graduate -- degrees. On that list as well, Pitt-Bradford ranked highly on earnings performance (6th), social mobility (36th) and “Pell performance” (52nd), which measures successful outcomes for students who need financial assistance.

The magazine calculates social mobility using a complex formula of factors that include graduation rate and a predicted graduation rate given the number of students who come from families with lower incomes, the percentage of students receiving student loans, the admissions rate, and the racial/ethnic and gender makeup of the student body.

“This ranking, although lesser known, is particularly valuable to us,” said Rick Esch, president of Pitt-Bradford. “Washington Monthly’s rankings emphasize what we value most – helping students of all backgrounds achieve their goals.”

The magazine, based in Washington, D.C., says that it “rates institutions of higher learning on the degree to which they recruit and graduate students of modest means, produce the scholarship and scholars that drive economic growth and human flourishing, and encourage students to be active citizens and serve their country.”

The recognition from Washington Monthly is the second the campus has received in August.

Earlier in the week, The Princeton Review named Pitt-Bradford to the “2025 Best Colleges: Region by Region,” a recognition based on survey responses from students.  

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