How Do Regional Public Colleges Fare on the Economic Mobility Index?

While topics such as low enrollment and college closures often dominate the discussion of regional public universities, there has been far less focus on the amazing benefits these colleges provide to the most vulnerable populations. In fact, experts at the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges (ARRC) express that the benefits of regional public colleges have largely been invisible despite them costing less on average and enrolling 3.8 million students. ARRC identifies regional public universities (RPUs) by their county, enrollment, student characteristics, and staffing and financials. RPUs often have missions to serve their localities, enroll smaller and more diverse student populations, and have smaller staff and budgets than non-RPUs. In addition, many of these universities are in counties that battle with persistent poverty and low employment. To better understand the impact of regional public universities, Third Way matched data from ARRC that defines and identifies the nation’s nearly 500 RPUs with our Economic Mobility Index to examine how well RPUs provide economic mobility. 

The EMI places value on institutions that lower costs, enroll more students in need, and ensure their students gain quality jobs after graduation, and our data show that impressively, RPUs compose half of the 270 universities in Tier 1 on our EMI. The 135 RPUs that landed in Tier 1 on the EMI also compose a diverse range of institutional types, including 52 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), 36 Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), and 7 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). It should be noted that RPUs can have dual-MSI status, and each indicator is counted separately on the EMI.

An analysis of the 389 RPUs with sufficient federal data to calculate an EMI rank reveals that over half (216) land in Tier 1 and Tier 2, the top two quintiles of Third Way’s EMI. That means that most of these institutions are doing well at keeping costs low and providing economic mobility to their students. However, there is also room for improvement at many RPUs in offering strong ROI. Around 31% of the 389 RPUs on the EMI (120) fell within Tier 4 and Tier 5, the bottom quintiles of the EMI, while 14% (53) placed in Tier 3. 

Third Way created the Economic Mobility Index to highlight universities that often don’t receive the recognition they deserve in traditional rankings. Regional public universities exemplify the institutions that the EMI aims to uplift. These are colleges that choose to enroll the students who benefit most from a college degree and design systems that provide these students with the resources they need to succeed in today’s economy, and these RPUs deserve to be uplifted in the national conversation for their focus on serving a diverse population of talented students.