Look, there is nothing mysterious about any of this: 10% of a university’s score consists of “expenditures per student”. USNews doesn’t break it down in so many words, but, the biggest expense for any school, after salaries for professors is financial aid, right? All that is really, is the difference between a university’s sticker price and the amount it discounts the price in order to stay competitive. If you are fortunate enough to be able to cater to the needs of a constituency that is essentially price insensitive, you can stay at the top of the USNews rankings almost indefinitely by continually raising tuition.