Each year, future college students and their parents flock to bookstores and magazine racks to pick up the latest copy of the U.S. News and World Report America's Best Colleges issue. The report claims it helps students make one of their most important decisions: where to pursue and receive the best college education. It has been published for over 25 years and has probably helped countless students select a college or university to attend.

In recent years, there has been some controversy surrounding how the U.S. News and World Report gathers its information and ranks the colleges found in the yearly report. Most of the data for the report are supplied by the schools themselves, rather than gathered independently by U.S. News and World Report staff. Other concerns include the use of these data and that report criteria should not be the only defining factors of a good school. There are over 3,000 colleges and universities in the United States, but the America's Best Colleges report only reviews 1,800 of them. What happened to the other 1,200 schools? Why are these not included?

The answer is many colleges refuse to participate, saying that statistical data will not properly represent their institution of higher learning. On May 10, 2007, the "Presidents Letter" was sent to all college and university presidents addressing the U.S. News and World Report rankings. The letter did not request a full boycott, but instead to not participate in the reputational survey section, which asks college presidents to give their subjective opinion of other colleges and which accounts for 25% of the total ranking in the report. When it was originally sent, 12 signatures from various college presidents were present. Now 61 signatures are on the Presidents Letter.

So if the U.S. News and World Report can no longer be considered the bible of school selection, where can one find information about colleges and universities? Visit the websites for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities at www.naicu.edu, and for the Council of Independent Colleges at www.cic.org. NAICU developed the University and College Accountability Network (U-CAN) as another tool to help students and their families learn more about private colleges and universities. Pick up a copy of Colleges That Change Lives by Loren Pope, who writes about his top 40 choices for liberal arts colleges that offer an Ivy League education. Also try The Insider's Guide to Colleges which is published annually by the student editorial staff of the Yale Daily News.

Another avenue can be utilizing educational consultants, such as College Assistance Plus (CAPlus). CAPlus helps students and their families navigate the college selection process. Its services include assisting in preparation and selection of a college with input from student through college search process, refining a student's interest and educational goals, and offering support with the final selection that includes the all-important financial aid packages. For more information about CAPlus, please call 303-741-0798 or visit www.caplusdenver.com.