51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ is now ranked within the National Doctoral Universities category of the U.S. News & World Report annual America's Best Colleges guidebook, which will be available on newsstands on Monday.
According to the magazine's annual campus rankings report, 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ has been moved up from the classification of "Regional Public Universities" to the classification of "National Doctoral Universities." It is now ranked along with 249 other doctoral-degree-granting universities, many of which strongly emphasize research. The report explains that because of refinements to the categories developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2000, a number of institutions have been moved into new peer groups.
51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ is ranked under National Doctoral Universities, sharing placement in the fourth tier with institutions such as Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, Portland State University, the University of Massachusetts, the University of Central Florida, the University of Houston, and Georgia State. The universities are listed alphabetically within each tier.
51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ also is included in the report's list of colleges whose 2000 graduates incurred the least debt load, indicating it is a good value. 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ ranked 10th out of 25 doctoral universities that received this distinction. U.S. News & World Report compiled a list of the schools whose 2000 graduates carried the heaviest and lightest debt loads. The data include loans taken out by students from the colleges themselves, from financial institutions, and from federal, state, and local governments. Parents' loans were not included.
"We are very pleased that we have moved up in the U.S. News & World Report's national ranking," said 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ President Carol C. Harter. "We were excited when the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching moved 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ up into the ranking of Doctoral/Research Universities-Intensive, and we are very happy to see that classification reflected in the new U.S. News & World Report ranking. It is our goal to continue to move up in this classification.
In addition, we've known for a long time that 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ is a good value in higher education, and we are glad to see that reflected in our placement in the 'Least Debt' category," she added.
