And UCF was No. 2, just behind California State University-Long Beach. Institutions like that — elevators of social mobility and equity — became Scott's focus as she, one of the world's richest women, went on a philanthropic mission.
Scott, an early employee of Amazon and the ex-wife of its founder, Jeff Bezos, identified 286 organizations to donate more than $2.7 billion, among "historically underfunded and overlooked" fields.
"Higher education is a proven pathway to opportunity, so we looked for 2- and 4-year institutions successfully educating students who come from communities that have been chronically underserved," Scott wrote in a blog post on Medium.com.
As the gap between the wealthiest Americans and the middle class continues to grow, access to the most elite universities remains limited for students with less means.