Keene State College received multiple high rankings in this year’s U.S. News and World Report rankings.
As stated in the U.S. News and World Report website, “Keene State College is ranked #15 out of 68 Regional Colleges North. Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.”
The KSC Director of Strategic Communications Paul Miller said, “It’s actually a very complex formula that they use. I’m still trying to understand it, but it’s based across these sets of indicators of excellence.”
Miller added, “There’s a lot to this. I know the Best Value calculation is an issue that says here factors in academic quality. It factors in the net cost of attendance for an out-of-state student, the average level of need-based financial aid.”
MB Lufkin, vice president of enrollment and student engagement said she appreciated the high ratings and the opportunities that provides for the college.
“We continue to be pleased with how Keene is showcased by the U.S. News & World Report rankings,” Lufkin said. “ We know that many families look to the rankings when making their list of colleges to consider. Recognition through high rankings gives us a chance to introduce ourselves to more students as they conduct their college choice journey.”
KSC achieved top 15 rankings in Best Value, Top Public, Top Regional North and Best Colleges for Veterans.
Lufkin said, “We constantly seek opportunities to improve the student experience. In fact, our strategic plan has multiple projects especially focused on the student experience.”
She noted seamless advising, streamlining transfer pathways and improving equity of resources and support to name a few.
According to the U.S. News and Report website, Keene placed ninth for Best Value Schools and received the same ranking for the category of Best Colleges for Veterans. KSC also received Top Public School and 15th place for Regional Colleges North.
KSC President Melinda Treadwell said, “There is a lot of churn within the market. What I’m hearing at national meetings is that a lot of schools are moving in and out of rankings and what we’re hearing is that a steady existence in the top 10 is the goal for most institutions.”
She continued, “If you’re in the top 10 in categories, you’re going to bend against the curve of this demographic decline, if you can hold through the shakeout and that’s part of why we’ve been so excited about these rankings in this many categories to be in the top ten and then in that many, and to be close to the top 10 in others is a good thing and we’ll keep pushing to keep them up.”
Media influences help colleges gain admissions, Treadwell added,“I think it’s a good collateral. It’s earned media if you will. So to get these types of things by doing the work, they do help with brand penetration in markets where people may not know us. So to have the college name show up in the top ten helps people who may not know us find us.”
“When we improve the student experience, we have an opportunity to improve our rankings,” Lufkin said. “Our consistent approach to improving the student experience helps showcase Keene as an exemplary institution.”
Miller said,“I think too, some of the core points of distinction that have served us so well over the years continue to serve us well in these rankings, which is the large percentage of first-generation students are traditionally high retention rate and student-faculty ratio which is 15 or 16 to one. That’s always an above-average thing for us.”
Overall, KSC received a score of 50 out of 100, according to the U.S. News and World Report website, which is four spots down from last year’s rank of 46.
“I think it’s a product of the hard work that we do where we keep our focus trained, which is on students and our entire campus community,” Miller mentioned “So it’s a nice affirmation that we’re doing a lot of right things and that we’re paying attention to things that matter.”
Madelyn French can be contacted at
mfrench@kscequinox.com
