CollegeNet’s 2022 Social Mobility Index rankings continue to affirm Metropolitan State University’s effectiveness at improving the economic outcomes for our students. Once again ranked at the top for Minnesota four-year institutions, Metro State also climbed into the top 1.6% nationally among the 1,414 ranked institutions.
The index is a measure of a college or university’s success in elevating students from low income strata into the middle class by five years after graduation. Given the growing acknowledgement of the urgency of reducing economic disparities, the continuing success of Metro State’s model reflected in independent rankings is a heartening positive, particularly after the intense focus on student support and outcomes that has grown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, in Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce return on investment analysis for 4,500 U.S. Colleges, Metro State ranks in the top 9.5% (429/4,500), calculated by comparing additional lifetime earnings by the investment in the cost of attendance.
Metropolitan State recognizes the importance and significance that education plays in the lives of minority and first-generation college students. While there will always remain room for improvement, Metro State, and indeed Minnesota State as a whole, remain one of our state’s most powerful tools in the fight against systemic inequities.