# Shittiest universities **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 14, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264 "2024-09-14T16:20:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/1 "2024-09-14T16:20:10Z")
Not the most excruciating of pittings, but… Guess I’ll need some ignorance full-nelsoned outta me here - according to this website… [These are the 63 worst colleges in America 2024 - Degreechoices.com](https://www.degreechoices.com/blog/worst-colleges-in-america/) …where in the fuckitty fuck are Liberty and Prager on it? No idea as to the credibility of the website, but seeing them write stuff like this: “According to government data, these colleges a have:”… …doesn’t exactly warm my heart-cockles. It posits these three initial guidelines: - Outrageously low earnings after graduation - Alumni who are in debt for most of their lives - Disturbingly low graduation rates So really? Shmucks coming out of those two shithead entities that I just mentioned will actually, somewhow, score higher on those criteria, compared to graduates from that list? Like I mentioned in another recent post, but with a lot less sarcasm this time - what the fuck _is_ the world coming to? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/2 "2024-09-14T16:40:31Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > where in the fuckitty fuck are Liberty and Prager on it? Are those accredited? I see at quick glance that Lincoln Univ is on there twice. Seattle Central College until recently was Seattle Central Community College. It still essentially is a 2-yr school with a very few 4-year programs. It shouldn’t have been included. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/3 "2024-09-14T16:43:28Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Are those accredited? Quickly googled to learn that Pager ain’t: they don’t give out diploas nor certifications, while Liberty is “accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award associate, baccalaureate, master’s, educational specialist, and doctorate degrees, as well as certificates at approved degree levels.” (wiki) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/4 "2024-09-14T16:45:11Z")
Yeah, it appear that Liberty is accredited in a lot of areas, including engineering. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/5 "2024-09-14T16:52:28Z")
UGH - as pointed out (thank-you) by John Di Fool in another thread - I badly typo’ed the thread title. Mod - may I trouble you to correct that? 😳 ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/6 "2024-09-14T16:54:03Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Mod - may I trouble you to correct that? 😳 Flagged for mods. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/7 "2024-09-14T16:58:08Z")
Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/8 "2024-09-14T17:07:23Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > I badly typo’ed the thread title. Aww..I thought you misspelled “university” because you graduated from one of the 63 on the list. 🙂 The list would have been a whole lot more interesting if they had included a paragraph about each school. I’ve never heard of any of 'em. So they should have added something like this: “X State University is actually just a technical college that offers mostly night classes. Many of the students were referred there by parole officers. No high school transcripts or SAT test scores are requested–The only standard for acceptance is that a student must be 18 years old and have no felony convictions. There are no student organizations, and the atmosphere on campus resembles a meeting of drunken bikers and meth heads.” ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/9 "2024-09-14T17:09:49Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Aww…I thought you misspelled “university” because you graduated from one of the 63 on the list. 🙂 Heh, ikr? 😆 ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/10 "2024-09-14T17:13:35Z")
Yeah, I don’t think their criteria takes religious or political bias into account. They just define shitty as the for-profit or scammy schools or schools that have abysmal graduation rates, heavy debt, etc. And as biased or Fallwell-ish Liberty Univ may be, it still ranks high enough to not land on the shitty list, in terms of being an actual university. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/11 "2024-09-14T17:25:25Z")
I’m unconvinced by this set of rankings. I don’t know many of the schools on it, but I’m reasonably familiar with Alcorn State. It’s an HBCU in the Mississippi Delta! They take students who come in with significant educational deficits because that is their mission, so _of course_ they have low graduation rates. And many of these students want or need to stay in the (very low-income) region where they grew up after they graduate, hence lower earnings after graduation. (Also, their tuition is $3,934 a semester, so it’s not like they’re ripping anybody off.) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/12 "2024-09-14T17:25:41Z")
I believe Clark Atlanta University is one of the HBCUs and Johnson & Wales graduates many to work in restaurants and hotels, so not very high-paying professions. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/13 "2024-09-14T17:36:33Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > They just define shitty as the for-profit or scammy schools or schools that have abysmal graduation rates, heavy debt, etc. Not true in the case of the one school I’m familiar with, Seattle Central College, as I stated above. It’s a public community college with a very few 4 year degrees, but mostly a path to transferring to a 4-year college after 2 years. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/14 "2024-09-14T17:37:32Z")
I’ve worked with Liberty graduates. They aren’t the worst. Though this was 20-25 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/15 "2024-09-14T17:51:05Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > I’ve worked with Liberty graduates. They aren’t the worst. Hope they didn’t try any proselytizing. ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/16 "2024-09-14T17:57:55Z")
with regard to Liberty at least, I think you are letting your animosity toward their religious structure to influence your opinion on their academics. I wouldn’t exactly call them a well-respected university, but they exist in the vast swath of undistinguished yet perfectly adequate universities from whom a degree is not going to get you laughed out of a room. Very simply, they do not belong on a list of worst universities in the US based purely on academics. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/17 "2024-09-14T18:10:10Z")
I was hoping to see George Mason on there. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/18 "2024-09-14T18:13:55Z")
What’s your beef with GMU? ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/19 "2024-09-14T18:15:18Z")
Probably similar to the OPs beef with Prager - ideological content. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264/20 "2024-09-14T18:18:21Z")
> [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](#): > > with regard to Liberty at least, I think you are letting your animosity toward their religious structure to influence your opinion on their academics. I wouldn’t exactly call them a well-respected university, but they exist in the vast swath of undistinguished yet perfectly adequate universities from whom a degree is not going to get you laughed out of a room. Yeah, and also this list isn’t based primarily on academic quality (which is one of my problems with it: if anything, more-academically-rigorous schools tend to have _lower_ graduation rates if they aren’t weeding the weaker students out before they’re even admitted, and there are some very good mission-related reasons why some schools might not want, or be able, to do that). I don’t see any particular reason to _expect_ Liberty students to have lower graduation rates than other schools, or higher student debt than other private-but-not-for-profit universities. Being known as a right-wing evangelical institution _might_ affect graduates’ earnings, I guess, but then again it might not – there are plenty of employers who might see this as a feature rather than a bug, and they aren’t all low-paying. As for Prager, AFAIK it’s not an actual university (as in, they literally don’t _have_ any graduates in the first place), so it wouldn’t appear in a ranking based on these metrics at all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shittiest-universities/1007264.md?page=2)