New College of Florida just fell again in the U.S. News rankings from No. 135 last year to No. 150 this year.
This is not a fluke; it is the same downward trend New College has been on since the state's political takeover of the school in January 2023.
New College was ranked No. 76 among national liberal arts colleges before Richard Corcoranbecame president in 2023. But since Corcoran's arrival, New College has dropped out of the top 100 and is on track to eventually fall outside the top 200.
And for the first time ever, New College has dropped out of the top 10 in U.S. News' “Top Public Schools” rankings.
It has fallen to No. 16, down from its No. 5 spot when Corcoran took over down.
This drastic decline has occurred even as millions of new taxpayer
dollars have been poured into New College since Corcoran took the reins.
And the rankings match the declining educational quality on the ground.
Just look at these words from a student quoted in a June 2026 story by The Free Press:
“It’s like I’m back in middle school,” said Dania Hefley, a senior. “The biggest change is that I can notice students don’t want to be here, students don’t want to learn.”
During Corcoran's reign, the number of tenured faculty has dropped from 58 to 46.
It should be noted that the number of tenured faculty reflects how well a school can retain top talent who want to help the school build long-term success. But under Corcoran, New College has hemorrhaged these long-term instructors.
Corcoran has also filled senior roles with people who have no higher education background.
For example, David Rancourt, a former Republican lobbyist and state elections director with no academic experience, went from being a poorly qualified dean of students to becoming the top academic officer as provost.
Interestingly, New College’s ranking is likely artificially higher, not lower, due to the flood of taxpayer money it has received.
The financial factors shaping the U.S. News rankings include financial resources per student, which looks much better given the piles of money from the Florida Legislature.
Student debt is also a measure that impacts the U.S. News rankings, and New College has used some of that legislative largess to more than double the average non-need-based award per student (from $4,137 in 2022 to $9,625 in 2025).
But as the legislative funding firehose begins to turn off – which happened this year when New College’s legislative funding was cut by $25 million – it's likely New College won’t be able to give so many full-ride scholarships to athletes.
And it's also likely that the school's U.S. News rankings will continue to fall.
In the past Corcoran complained about the part of the U.S. News scores that comes from peer assessments provided by other college presidents and provosts.
But these peer assessments are expert evaluations of the actual educational quality at New College from people who actually run universities.
Yes, rankings are an imperfect measure of a university.
But when the rankings, the faculty numbers, the test scores and the students themselves are all telling the same story of a New College in decline, at what point does Corcoran stop blaming the messenger – and start taking responsibility?
Brian Cody is a board member of the Novo Collegian Alliance. He is a New College alum and served on the New College Foundation board in 2007. He was also a member of New College of Florida's Board of Trustees in 2004 and 2005. He resides in Chicago.
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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Throwing cash at New College has been a waste of money
