Why is Columbia Ranked so Highly?

[Sam_Lee]

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1. Columbia spends a lot of money because it needs to, given its location in New York City. Perhaps the clearest example is faculty salaries: Columbia pays very high faculty salaries in part because it can, but in part because it needs to do so if it wants to attract and retain high-quality faculty, given the high cost of living in New York City. The average full professor at Columbia makes $212,300 per year, according to the AAUP. At Harvard the comparable figure is $203,000; Princeton $200,000; Penn $187,000; Yale $186,300; Dartmouth $167,400; Brown $160,800; Cornell $159,800. Columbia in effect is rewarded in the US News rankings for having high costs due to its high cost location.

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<p>But do they spend a lot less to maintain the campus since it’s so small (32 acres)?</p>