Colleges and universities often compare their policies, programs, operations, and outcomes to those of other institutions for benchmarking purposes. Such analysis can tell an institution whether it is similar to other institutions in a particular respect or whether it is an outlier. This raises the question of what group of other institutions a college or university should use as its peers. There is an extensive body of scholarship on how to systematically select a peer group, and in spring 2024, Connecticut College used well-documented methodologies to create a new peer list of private liberal arts colleges that are demonstrably similar to us in terms of endowment, per-student spending, and cost of living. (Details of the peer-group selection process are available here.)
Connecticut College's 15-institution peer group is as follows:
• Bates College (ME)
• Dickinson College (PA)
• Franklin & Marshall College (PA)
• Gettysburg College (PA)
• Goucher College (MD)
• Hobart & William Smith Colleges (NY)
• Kenyon College (OH)
• Macalester College (MN)
• Muhlenberg College (PA)
• Skidmore College (NY)
• Trinity College (CT)
• Union College (NY)
• University of the South (TN)
• Wheaton College (IL)
• Whitman College (WA)