The coronavirus pandemic is changing everything--including how, and where, college students attend class. The U.S. News and World Report annual rankings of the nation's best colleges and universities are out, and with data being used from before the effects of the pandemic were weighed in, Iowa institutions are seeing a drop in their standing.

It's become a go-to list of many prospective college students and their parents and a major resource to determine where they want to attend. Here is how our state ranked.

They have the University of Iowa in a tie for 88th place (down from 84th last year)  among "national universities" and in 34th (same as last year) among "public schools" nationally, according to the Gazette.

Iowa State went from #55 to #54 among public institutions. If you're wondering, Princeton led the pack again as the #1 national university and UCLA was the top school among public universities.

Schools in the "National Universities" category offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master's and doctoral programs. These colleges also are committed to producing groundbreaking research. Whereas, public colleges and universities "typically operate under the supervision of state governments and are funded, in part, by tax dollars and subsidies from the state."

The University of Northern Iowa was ranked among public schools in the Midwest, where they held steady at 2nd place but are not ranked nationally. Overall in that Midwest subdivision, they've gone from 20 to 34.

U.S. News ranks 1,400 colleges on 17 different indicators of academic quality, so despite a few slips, the standings of Iowa institutions are still pretty high. Changes to this year's methodology are putting more weight on factors such as graduation and retention rates and social mobility.

You can see the full findings of the U.S. News Best Colleges report here.

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