UF fell in the US News & World Report's Best Colleges Rankings this year.
In last year's rankings, UF held the No. 47 spot. This year, UF fell to No. 53, making it the second-ranked university in the state.
The new top school in the state is the University of Miami, which claimed Florida's old spot at No. 47.
UF's president Bernie Machen didn't seem too worried about the drop in rank.
"I don't think we're down and out," he said of the rankings that came out Aug. 17. "I think if you look at what has happened, it's mainly about resources."
And when he's talking about resources, he's talking about budget. The recession has forced UF to make some hefty budget cuts.
For example, about $7.7 million was cut from the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in 2009. About another $3 million was cut from the UF College of Engineering that same year.
Machen said UM and other private schools that rose in rank this year "have had a better handle on weathering the down economy."
The rankings are calculated using statistics from seven categories, each weighted differently based on importance.
The categories are as follows: graduation rate (7.5 percent), undergraduate reputation (22.5 percent), graduation and freshman retention (20 percent), faculty resources (20 percent), student selectivity (15 percent), financial resources (10 percent) and alumni giving rate (5 percent.)
The rankings website, www.usnews.com, states that the rankings were created because "a college education is one of the most important - and one of the most costly - decisions that prospective students will ever make. For this reason, the editors of U.S. News believe that students and their families should have as much information as possible about the comparative merits of the educational programs at America's colleges and universities."
Machen said his goal for the 2010-2011 academic year is to get back to business as usual at UF.
"The only way to get back on our feet, I really think . . . is to get more resources devoted to academics," he said. "Not athletics or anything else, but resources to rebuild our academics."
