For the third consecutive year, Forbes.com online news magazine has recognized the University of Mary Washington as one of the nation’s top universities.
In the annual list of “America’s Best Colleges,” UMW ranked 44th out of 100 institutions that Forbes deems “America’s Best Buys.” UMW rose 14 places, up from 58th on last year’s list of best buy colleges. Overall, UMW is ranked 208 out of 610 undergraduate institutions that the magazine considers the nation’s best.
In February 2010, Forbes.com recognized UMW as the eighth best public college in the South.
The list is compiled in conjunction with the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP), which rates the undergraduate institutions based on the quality of the education provided and how much their students achieve. The CCAP ranks only the top 15 percent of the nation’s more than 4,000 colleges and universities.
With colleges across the nation increasing tuition and fees, and during difficult economic times, it is more important than ever to get the best value in higher education, according to the August 11 edition of Forbes.com. “Knowing where you can get the most quality for each tuition dollar spent can help,” Forbes.com states.
According to Forbes.com, the list is based on the following factors: rankings from 4 million student evaluations of courses and instructors, as recorded on the website RateMyProfessors.com, the percentage of alumni who are listed in “Who’s Who in America,” the average salaries of graduates reported by Payscale.com, the percentage of students who graduate in four years, the average student loan debt and the number of students or faculty who have received internationally competitive awards like Rhodes Scholarships or Nobel Prizes.
In recent years, the University of Mary Washington has seen its academic reputation garner national recognition in other selective guidebooks, including Fiske Guide to Colleges, the Princeton Review, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Peterson’s Competitive Colleges and Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges.