Keene State College received several top 10 spots in this year’s U.S. News and World Report rankings, with one being in the number 12 spot.
This was announced in an email sent to the students, faculty and staff of Keene State from President Melinda Treadwell on Sept. 18.
“This is truly something to hoot about!” Treadwell stated in the email.
U.S. News and World Report is a media company that provides journalism, rankings and advice.
“We use world-class data and technology to publish independent reporting, rankings, journalism and advice that has earned the trust of our readers and users for nearly 90 years,” the website states.
U.S. News and World Report placed Keene State at the number one spot for colleges for undergraduate teaching, according to the U.S. News and World Report website.
The ranking comes from surveys about the perception of colleges and universities across the country, MB Lufkin, vice president of enrollment and student engagement, said.
“It means we are well-respected among other colleges and universities for our excellence,” she said.
This is the first year Keene State has secured the number-one spot for this category.
According to the website Keene State is tied with four other colleges for this category.
Additionally, Keene State was able to keep its number eight spot for best value schools, for which it has historically been in the top 10, Lufkin said.
The best value ranking takes into consideration multiple factors, like graduation rate and cost of attendance, according to Lufkin.
When students are looking for colleges, they often check rankings like this, so students who come across it see it, Lufkin noted.
“It gives us a lot of excellent exposure for prospective students,” she said.
The school was also able to place at number five for schools for veterans and number 12 for regional colleges in the north. The regional colleges in the north were ranked out of 52 regional colleges.
“If someone else says we are amazing, we say we are amazing all the time but it’s an honor … we know we are great but also our peers know we are great”
For improvements, Lufkin said it is hard to improve from the number one spot for undergraduate teachings, but she said Keene State’s rankings usually fluctuate up one spot or down one spot for other categories on a yearly basis.
She mentioned they are always looking at new pricing strategies to be able to offer students new opportunities and as many scholarships as they can hand out.
She noted it ties into their campaign to raise $20 million for scholarship money to offset the costs of student attendance.
She said the ranking is not the goal, but it is tied to the outcome of their ongoing strategic plans. The strategic plans are the school’s plans to increase funding, student enrollment and retention, among others to benefit the college.
The school received the spot of 40 for social mobility. Social mobility ranking is judged by how successful the college is at advancing economically disadvantaged students’ social mobility through enrollment and graduation from their college.
Overall, Keene State received a score of 46 out of 100, according to the U.S. News and World Report website.
Tim Bruns can be contacted at
tbruns@kscequinox.com
