The University fell eight places to 47 from 39 in the recently released U.S. News and World Report 2011 Best Colleges rankings.

“The campus doesn’t depend on U.S. News or any other rankings to tell us whether we are serving our students well,” said University Spokeswoman Robin Kaler in an e-mail interview.

“We continue to attract the best and brightest students from Illinois, as well as the nation and even around the world,” she added.

Each institution is scored in several categories that make up different percentages of the overall score, such as alumni giving rate, student selectivity and financial resources.

The University totaled 58 points to tie Pennsylvania State University–University Park and University of Miami at spot 47.

In comparison, Harvard University ranked number one with a score of 100.

Kaler pointed to an increase in class size, altering the student to faculty ratio, and a decrease in alumni giving, which she said are connected to “the current economic climate” and “the continuing erosion of state funding.”

According to U.S. News and World Report’s website, financial resources account for ten percent of each institution’s score.

Daniel Soso, student trustee, said the fall is a reflection of the financial state of the University.

“It boils down to the state giving us our money,” he said.

Soso said the University’s financial situation has caused them to be less competitive in hiring faculty.

“We’re trying to get the best faculty but we’re not able to be as competitive as we’d like to be,” Soso said.

Soso also said he does not believe the fall in the rankings damages the University’s image in any way and he cited the strong incoming freshman class as evidence.

“It’s not really doing much to stop our quality of admission,” he said. “I don’t really think that the public respect has changed too much.”

David Wall, student senator, said he does not put much stock in college rankings such as the U.S. News and World Report’s due to their subjective nature.

“While yes, U.S. News and World Report is an exceptionally prestigious publication, at the same time I put more weight into what the views expressed by students, prospective students and alumni are,” Wall said.

Wall added the rankings might affect the decisions of prospective students but only minimally.

“I think the type of students that we attract are intelligent enough to put more into their basis for enrollment than U.S. News and World Report,” he said. “Every student will do a tour and will see the beauty that is this campus.”

Tim Smith, senior in Engineering, said rankings played a significant role in his college selection.

Smith said he chose the University because of its strong material science program.

“It’s a good indictor I think,” Smith said. “I think a lot of people do look at it. I don’t know how they weigh it. I do pretty heavily.”

Jordan Frahm, freshman in LAS, said although he looked at rankings when deciding on his higher education plans, it is more important to look at specific programs or majors rather than overall rankings.

“I feel as though the University has multiple colleges that, depending on the particular field, the overall University ranking doesn’t effect the individual person,” Frahm said.

Student Body President David Olsen said the drop in rankings is not cause for concern.

“Regardless of whether we move up eight spots or down eight spots, we’re still proud of our institution and the opportunities it provides us,” he said.

Olsen said that receiving full state funding is a prerequisite for moving up in rankings rather than down in future years.

“I think in a lot of ways we just have to remain strong, remain a quality program, try to ensure that we’re committed to our education, we’re committed to giving back to the University,” he said. “The more that students are excited about their University the better we’re going to look in the rankings.”