UF ranks for beer, affordability and parties

UF’s reputation as a party school is going down, but its reputation as an affordable university is going up.

The Princeton Review released its 2017 rankings Monday, naming UF No. 6 in its “Lots of Beer,” category, No.18 for “Best College Newspaper” and No. 18 in “Party Schools.” Another website, Value Colleges, considers UF the No. 1 “Best Value” college.

“These are the rankings by the students,” said Amy Briskin, a Princeton Review spokeswoman. “This is not what the administration thinks or what an outside panel of experts think.”

Princeton Review surveyed 143,000 students at 381 colleges, asking students to rank their universities on different categories including their school’s administration, life at college and peers.

Briskin said the “Lots of Beer” category refers to how widely used beer is on campus. The University of Wisconsin-Madison took the No.1 spot for “Lots of Beer” and the University of Dayton, in Ohio, took second.

UF spokesman Steve Orlando said the university's ranking as a party school has fallen in the past few years. In 2014, Princeton Review ranked UF No. 6 on its “Party Schools” list.

“I’m not sure why that (drop) is, but I would guess it’s because our reputation as an academic institution is growing,” Orlando said.

He said the “Lots of Beer” ranking is news to him.

“Well, for ‘Lots of Beer,’ I’m not exactly sure what it means, but probably some students’ parents wouldn’t be too happy to hear that,” Orlando said.

Value Colleges, a ranking website, reviewed and listed more than 250 colleges and universities based on return on investment, cost and reputation.

UF President Kent Fuchs said he sees the website’s ranking as a combination of the university’s excellence and financial accessibility.

“We have almost a third of our students receive a pell grant, and pell grants are financial aid from the federal government,” Fuchs said. “That’s an amazingly high percentage, and I’m very proud of that.”

Roselyn Roderick, 20, said UF’s tuition pays off because she’s learned a lot from her professors and she enjoys the university’s friendly atmosphere on campus.

“My financial aid has really helped me at UF because I can just focus on school, and I don’t have to struggle to support myself to get a good education,” the UF elementary education masters student said.

Ronit Dastidar, 20, said he doesn’t understand why the Princeton Review even ranks categories like “party schools” and “lots of beer.”

“There are a lot of parties that go on here, but at the same time, UF students are really good with doing their work and stuff like that during the week, and then they’ll have fun during the weekend,” the UF microbiology junior said.

Top 5 Value College’s “best value colleges” for 2017:

1. UF
2. Brigham Young University
3. Baruch College (CUNY)
4. Suny Plattsburgh
5. California State Polytechnic University

Princeton Review’s “Lots of Beer” ranking for 2017:

1. University of Wisconsin-Madison
2. University of Dayton
3. Bates College
4. Beloit College
5. Lehigh University
6. UF