UF actually hired their latest president based on ability and knowledge to climb the USNWR rankings. It was a major goal of the board’s to climb way up the list. There have been a few articles about it with greater detail, but basically it involves hiring full time faculty instead of multiple part timers, students leaving with less debt, alumni donating more and a bunch of other factors that don’t equate to a better education. Florida offers a great prepaid college plan and Bright Futures Scholarships, making state schools a huge bargain. That also fetches more top in state students.
In the case of part time faculty, they are more common in the northeast because there is a huge number of colleges. UConn often shares faculty with people from Connecticut College, CCSU, Trinity and sometimes even schools in RI and Mass. It isn’t uncommon for a professor in Providence, RI to teach classes at Brown, PC and Bryant all at once. That can’t happen in Gainesville because nothing else is even close to it.
Class rank and other factors are also involved. Florida is huge, so it is easier to get all of your students from the top 10-15% of their graduating class. At UConn, in state kids come from a much smaller pool. Even though they may have a lower class rank, their SAT scores and AP credits are on par with UF freshmen.
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