Grade inflation is directly related to the college rankings, but not because of the 'how many students pass' metric. These rankings play a huge roll in determining how much money a college will get from donations and investments (many colleges have bonds you can buy). They also help to attract new students. As more people start attending college, more of the applicants do not know the reputations of different colleges, so they have to narrow their search down by looking at rankings and what their SAT/ACT scores say they can do. Ergo, the ranking becomes an even stronger force in granting a college the ability to attract 'quality' students (who will either raise the college's ranking or donate lots of money).
In many college ranking schemes, colleges get more 'points' for students going directly on to grad school than they do for students going on to jobs. This was explained to me when I asked my professors why my college's curriculum seemed to *only* prepare me for grad school and not employment. Whenever the number of students attending colleges goes up, the number of students applying to grad schools goes up. So colleges have to find a different way to make their students stand out. If you want your students to stand out to grad schools you give them exciting research opportunities (which costs major $), help them test better (not something you can guarantee), and give them better grades.
So if a college wants to improve its ranking without costly construction projects, grade inflation is the easiest route. It could spend a lot of money on cooler research gigs - which everyone else is trying to do (and if a school doesn't have the most money, how can it win that competition?) - or it could just tell the professors to grade the students more gently.
These rankings play a huge roll in determining how much money a college will get from donations and investments (many colleges have bonds you can buy). They also help to attract new students. As more people start attending college, more of the applicants do not know the reputations of different colleges, so they have to narrow their search down by looking at rankings and what their SAT/ACT scores say they can do. Ergo, the ranking becomes an even stronger force in granting a college the ability to attract 'quality' students (who will either raise the college's ranking or donate lots of money).
In many college ranking schemes, colleges get more 'points' for students going directly on to grad school than they do for students going on to jobs. This was explained to me when I asked my professors why my college's curriculum seemed to *only* prepare me for grad school and not employment. Whenever the number of students attending colleges goes up, the number of students applying to grad schools goes up. So colleges have to find a different way to make their students stand out. If you want your students to stand out to grad schools you give them exciting research opportunities (which costs major $), help them test better (not something you can guarantee), and give them better grades.
So if a college wants to improve its ranking without costly construction projects, grade inflation is the easiest route. It could spend a lot of money on cooler research gigs - which everyone else is trying to do (and if a school doesn't have the most money, how can it win that competition?) - or it could just tell the professors to grade the students more gently.