The annual "America's Best Colleges" issue of "U.S. News & World Report" has long been referred to as the magazine's swimsuit issue. While the comparison is made in jest, in terms of newsstand sales the association with the popular "Sports Illustrated" cover is not far off. Last year the "U.S. News" college issue was among 17 perennial "moneymakers," according to a list compiled by "min: Media Industry Newsletter." "The college issue generates so much publicity" for "U.S. News," says Alvin P. Sanoff, who was managing editor of the magazine's rankings project for almost seven years in the 1990s. "It helps keep the name of a magazine before people, that you otherwise wouldn't be hearing a lot about." Indeed, the college guide and its sibling, "America's Best Graduate Schools," are two bright spots for a magazine that operates in the shadows of its larger rivals, "Time" and "Newsweek," and has endured substantial staff cuts in the last five years. Apparently advertising, while its contribution is hard to measure, is a major factor in the financial success of these issues. Given the buzz that "U.S. News" generates with the rankings, some observers, including Sanoff, have wondered why other publications haven't entered the business, especially since college officials have plenty of ideas on how to improve the rankings.