The Wall Street Journal did not include Hillsdale College in its new Best Colleges rankings, following a years-long practice of ignoring the school because it does not accept federal funding.

“It doesn’t matter one bit because nobody is going to choose or not choose Hillsdale College based on what the Wall Street Journal rankings say,” said Buddy Moorehouse, adjunct instructor of documentary filmmaking. “The school’s reputation transcends that.” 

The newspaper collects the bulk of its data from Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and other federal reporting systems as a methodology for scoring institutions, said Joshua Trojniak, Hillsdale’s director of institutional research. 

One of the requirements to be part of the ranking is to be Title IV eligible, such as an accredited university that accepts federal financial aid, according to Trojniak.

“Depending on the WSJ’s definition of ‘eligible’ in ‘Title IV eligible,’ it is very likely that Hillsdale is not considered as satisfying this criteria,” Trojniak said.

Moorehouse helped his spring 2023 documentary filmmaking class produce a feature-length documentary telling the story of how Hillsdale College became free from federal aid in the 1980s.

According to Trojniak, another requirement for schools to be included in the newspaper’s ranking is that the government data for the factors used to compile its ranking is collected and publicly reported.

Trojniak said because the college does not accept government funds, there are significant measures for which there is no data for the school. 

“There are several measures related to graduate income and social mobility that are derived from data on Pell Grant recipients,” he said. “Since there are no Pell Grant recipients at Hillsdale, there is no data for them to use.”

Trojniak said even though the newspaper provides a basic overview of its methodology for scoring institutions, the exact formula is unknown. 

“For this reason, it is difficult to ascertain precisely why a particular score is given, or why one school is included but another is not,” he said. 

Junior Abby Idstein said she thinks it would help Hillsdale to be part of the rankings, but the school is still very successful without it.

“What makes a college great is its ability to teach the future generation of America,” she said. “That’s what Hillsdale is doing.” 

Five alumni work as writers and editors at The Wall Street Journal: Nicole Ault ’19, Jillian Melchior ’09, Mark Naida ’18, Kate Odell ’13, and Liz Essley Whyte ’11.The Collegian’s editor-in-chief last year, Maggie Hroncich, was a Bartley Fellow at the newspaper’s editorial page this summer.