Earlier this week, The New York Times ran the article “Local News, Off College Presses” which detailed how the editors and reporters at The Michigan Daily, the University of Michigan’s independent student newspaper, scooped the local newspaper, The Ann Arbor News, in reporting on a football player accused of sexual assault.
The Times noted how the trend of diminishing funds has forced professional papers to trim newsroom operations, which in college towns, leaves the market open for student journalists to increase their status as legitimate providers of news.
Taking a quick glance at some of the paper’s listed in The Princeton Review’s list of best college newspapers, and looking at the hometown newspapers they compete with, I compiled my own list of student publications that do the best reporting beyond campus.

The University Daily Kansan (University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan.)
Competitor: The Lawrence Journal-World

The Daily Mississippian (Ole Miss, Oxford, Miss.)
Competitor: The Oxford Eagle

The Breeze (James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.)
Competitor: Daily News-Record

The Exponent (Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.)
Competitor: The Journal and Courier

The Daily Collegian (Penn State, State College, Pa.)
Competitor: Centre Daily Times