The Obama Administration and U.S. Department of Education unveiled the framework for its college ranking system on Friday morning. It plans to roll out the final system in time for next school year: August 2015.
As expected, the rankings system will primarily focus on affordability, the school's accessibility to first-generation college students and low income students as well as graduation and retention rates. The rankings however do not focus on academic quality.
For reference, Penn accepted 129 first-generation college students early decision for the Class of 2019.
Unlike the U.S. News rankings or the College Factual rankings, schools will not be ranked in numerical order. They will be grouped into high performing, low performing and in between.
The Department of Education's rankings came about after President Obama declared student-debt levels a crisis in the U.S.
Here is the Wall Street Journal's recap of the announcement, as well as three things to know about the rankings.
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