Princeton Review Chooses The Evergreen State College for Its “Green Rating Honor Roll”

by Evergreen Communications Office
July 28, 2009
  • Rating Scores Based on Environmental Practices, Policies and Course Offerings
  • Green Honor Roll Salutes 15 Colleges, Among them The Evergreen State College, for Receiving Highest Rating Score of 99

NEW YORK, July 27, 2009, Noon EDT -- The Princeton Review – known for its education services helping students choose and get into colleges -- today reported its second annual Green Ratings of colleges: a measure of how environmentally friendly the institutions are on a scale of 60 to 99. The company tallied its Green Ratings for 697 institutions based on data it collected from the colleges in 2008-09 concerning their environmentally related policies, practices, and academic offerings.

The Princeton Review named 15 colleges to its "2010 Green Rating Honor Roll" – a list that salutes the institutions that received the highest possible score – 99 – in this year's rating tallies.

The Princeton Review’s "2010 Green Rating Honor Roll"

This list, published in "The Best 371 Colleges," salutes 15 institutions (eight private and seven public colleges) that received the highest possible rating score of 99. It includes:

(in alphabetical order)

  • Arizona State University at the Tempe campus
  • Bates College (Lewiston ME)
  • Binghamton University (State Univ. of New York at Binghamton)
  • College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor ME)
  • Colorado College (Colorado Springs CO)
  • Dickinson College (Carlisle PA)
  • The Evergreen State College (Olympia WA)
  • Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta)
  • Harvard College (Cambridge MA)
  • Middlebury College (Middlebury VT)
  • Northeastern University (Boston MA)
  • University of California - Berkeley
  • University of New Hampshire (Durham)
  • University of Washington (Seattle)
  • Yale University (New Haven CT)

Said Robert Franek, V.P. / Publisher, The Princeton Review, "The 'green' movement on college campuses is far more than an Earth Day recycling project. It is growing tremendously among students and administrators alike. This year we saw a 30% increase in the number of colleges participating in our Green Rating survey. We thank the nearly 700 institutions (697 vs. 534 last year) that supplied us with the data we requested to tally their scores. Many have shown extraordinary commitments to environmental issues and to the environment in their practices and programs. We are pleased to play a role in helping students who care deeply about these issues identify, get into, and study at these schools."

Franek noted the rising interest among students in attending colleges that practice, teach and support environmentally responsible choices. Among almost 16,000 college applicants and parents of applicants The Princeton Review surveyed this year for its annual "College Hopes & Worries Survey," 66% of respondents overall (and 68% of students vs. 59% of parents) said they would value having information about a college's commitment to the environment – a 4% increase from last year's respondents. Among that cohort, 24% of respondents overall (26% of students vs. 18% of parents) said such information would "very much" impact their (their child's) decision to apply to or attend the school.

The Princeton Review has dedicated a resource area on its website for students and others interested in learning more about the rating and the benefits of attending a green college. The area has information on colleges with exemplary environmental programs, questions to ask on school visits, and links to organizations that promote higher education and campus sustainability programs.

Criteria

The Princeton Review developed its Green Rating criteria and institutional survey in 2007 with ecoAmerica , a non-profit environmental organization that continues to participate in this project. The criteria for the rating cover three broad areas: 1/ whether the school’s students have a campus quality of life that is healthy and sustainable, 2/ how well the school is preparing its students for employment and citizenship in a world defined by environmental challenges, and 3/ the school's overall commitment to environmental issues. The institutional survey for the rating included ten questions on everything from energy use, recycling, food, buildings, and transportation to academic offerings (availability of environmental studies degrees and courses) and action plans and goals concerning greenhouse gas emission reductions.

About The Princeton Review College Ratings and College Rankings

The Green Rating scores appear in the profiles of the 697 schools that The Princeton Review posted today on its site, . The ratings are also in profiles of those schools in the 2010 editions of three Princeton Review books: "The Best 371 Colleges" (on sale July 28, $22.99), "The Best Northeastern Colleges" (on sale August 4, $16.99), and "Complete Book of Colleges" (on sale August 4, $26.99), all published by Random House.

The Princeton Review college ratings are scores on a scale of 60 to 99 in eight categories that it reports in some college profiles on its website and in its college guides. The ratings are based primarily on institutional data. In addition to the Green Rating, other rating categories include: Financial Aid, and Fire Safety (for which The Princeton Review also reports Honor Rolls of schools receiving its highest possible score of 99), and Admissions Selectivity. Schools from which The Princeton Review does not receive sufficient data in a category to tally a rating receive a score of 60* (sixty with an asterisk).

The Princeton Review college rankings are lists of schools in 62 categories (in rank order 1 to 20) based entirely on the Company's surveys of 122,000 students attending the schools in its book, "The Best 371 Colleges." The survey asks students to rate their own schools on dozens of topics and report on their campus experiences at them.

About The Princeton Review

The Princeton Review (NASDAQ: REVU) has been a pioneer and leader in helping students achieve their higher education goals for more than 25 years through college and graduate school test preparation and tutoring. With more than 165 print and digital publications and a free website, , the company provides student and their parents with the resources to research, apply to, prepare for, and learn how to pay for higher education. The Princeton Review also partners with schools and guidance counselors throughout the U.S. to assist in college readiness, test preparation and career planning services, helping more students pursue postsecondary education. The Company is headquartered in Framingham, MA with editorial offices in New York City and test preparation locations across the country and abroad. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University and it is not a magazine.

About ecoAmerica

ecoAmerica (www.ecoAmerica.org) is an environmental nonprofit that uses consumer research, partnerships, and engagement marketing to shift the personal and civic choices of mainstream Americans. ecoAmerica partnered with The Princeton Review to develop the initial concept of the Green Rating and provided strategic planning and partnership building expertise for its development. Other programs ecoAmerica has launched include The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, Nature Rocks, and GreenCareers by MonsterTRAK.

Criteria for The Princeton Review Green Rating of Colleges

The Princeton Review tallied the Green Rating scores based on institutional data it obtained from the colleges during the 2008-2009 academic year in response to ten survey questions that asked:

  1. The percentage of food expenditures that goes toward local, organic or otherwise environmentally preferable food
  2. Whether the school offers programs including free bus passes, universal access transit passes, bike sharing/renting, car sharing, carpool parking, vanpooling or guaranteed rides home to encourage alternatives to single-passenger automobile use for students
  3. Whether the school has a formal committee with participation from students that is devoted to advancing sustainability on campus
  4. Whether new buildings are required to be LEED (environmental certification of equipment/appliances) Silver certified or comparable
  5. The school's overall waste diversion rate
  6. Whether the school has an environmental studies major, minor or concentration
  7. Whether the school has an "environmental literacy" requirement
  8. Whether the school has produced a publicly available greenhouse gas emissions inventory and adopted a climate action plan consistent with 80 percent greenhouse gas reductions by 2050 targets
  9. What percentage of the school’s energy consumption, including heading/cooling and electrical, is derived from renewable sources (this definition included “green tags” but not nuclear or large-scale hydropower)
  10. Whether the school employs a dedicated full-time (or full-time equivalent) sustainability officer.