Loras College has been named the tenth Best Regional College in the Midwest — a 12-state region — according to the 2023 U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges rankings released Monday. Loras also ranked sixth in Best Value and was the top college or university in Iowa to make the Best Undergraduate Teaching designation, ranking third.
The 2023 U.S. News ranking includes data on nearly 1,452 colleges and universities. Eligible schools are ranked on academic excellence, including assessment of excellence, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving. Unlike most other publication rankings, U.S. News doesn’t require institutions to complete a survey, invest in advertising or pay fees to be part of the listing.
“It is always humbling to learn of Loras’ continued national and regional recognition, especially as we moved up three slots to number ten,” said Loras President Jim Collins (’84). “That said, rankings are but one of the many measures that ought to be factored when considering a college or university.”
The Regional Colleges category includes schools that focus almost entirely on the undergraduate experience and offer a broad range of programs in the liberal arts and fields such as business and education.
The U.S. News rankings also reiterated Loras’ financial commitment to its students. Of the regional colleges in Iowa on the list, Loras had the lowest percentage of graduating students who required loans to pay for their education.
The U.S. News Best Value ranking, with Loras ranking sixth, calculates a school’s academic quality based on its Best College ranking and the 2021-2022 net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid. The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the ranking.
Additionally, Washington Monthly placed Loras in the top thirty on two of their recent 2022 lists. Loras ranked 28th on the Best Bachelor’s Colleges and 30th on the Best Bang for the Buck Colleges in the Midwest, which ranks college and universities according to how well they help non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.
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