@Lindagaf this quote from you made me laugh.
“Middlebury is higher ranked, not sure why,but there is another thread discussing that somewhere. I will link it if I can find it, but in part, it’s because Bates has a smaller endowment. The endowment is smaller because it has a long history of admitting women and African- Americans, traditionally groups that do not earn as much as some others.”
Middlebury has been co-ed since 1883. The first female graduated from Middlebury in 1886. Bates graduated their first female in 1869, so yes, Bates has been admitting women for about 15 more years than Middlebury. Middlebury is the first school in the country to grant a degree to an African American - Alexander Twilight, who graduated in 1823. That over 30 years before Bates was even founded. There’s a building on campus today named after him. Bates first African American graduate was in 1868 - 45 years after Middlebury’s. So, I’m not sure that accepting women and blacks is the reason for the difference in endowment. Either way, it’s not like Bates is poor.