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Higher education institutes across the country are always subject to different surveys. Surveys help to make the system better over a period of time as they reflect positives and negatives and thus give an opportunity to work on them.

Over the years, information has been collected in order to identify colleges that have been successful in graduating students who belong to relatively lower income backgrounds. The US News has gone onto conduct a survey which probably looks like the first of its kind till date. The survey identifies colleges around the country that have actually succeeded in graduating students belonging to higher income backgrounds.

The Higher Education Opportunity Act was passed in the year 2009. The prime objective of the act was to keep a check on colleges and their ability to serve students of different backgrounds. The basic purpose of the act is to eliminate any kind of discrimination amongst students which may take place due to the difference in backgrounds they belong to.

The Act is also very important as it stresses the point of providing education with universal quality to all the students, irrespective of their financial status. The higher education system of the country is designed such that students are divided into three categories.

Students who belong to low income backgrounds are provided Pell Grant, while those who come from a moderate background are eligible for a subsidized Stafford Loan. On the contrary, students who belong to high income groups do not get either of the two.

The step taken by US news to identify colleges that have been successful in graduating students from good and stable income backgrounds is an initiative to ensure that there is economic diversity in the country. The step is also undertaken as an important pillar to determine the best colleges across America.

Till date, the best colleges were primarily identified on the basis of their success rate, taking students from various income backgrounds into consideration. However, in the years to follow, colleges that will feature in the top list will be the ones that have been successful in graduating students from diverse income groups, clearly stating that the quality of education provided by the institute is uniform and there is no discrimination whatsoever.

As relevant data has not been collected till date, this new ranking system will not be implemented when the 2013 best colleges list comes out. However, with US news collecting the data, there is a possibility that the list from the year 2014 will feature colleges on the basis of new and innovative ranking system. It is important for the economy to witness students from different financial backgrounds doing well.

The higher education system in America is probably going through the process of rebuilding. Recently, loopholes associated with its fee structure have come into the foray. However, it is certainly a boom to see that new initiatives are now part of the plan. Hence, as far as the system is concerned, it can only get better from here.