Mount St. Mary’s University has earned a place on several recently released college and university rankings.
The Mount made America’s Top Colleges 2022 List, published by Forbes, placing 448th of approximately 500 colleges and universities ranked. There are nearly 4,000 nonprofit higher education institutions in the United States.
Mount St. Mary’s ranked 48th of 175 institutions in the North region in U.S. News & World Report ‘s Best Regional Universities rankings for 2022-2023, released today. The university also earned spots on the U.S. News lists for Best Value Schools, Best Colleges for Veterans, Top Performers on Social Mobility and Campus Ethnic Diversity.
“We are proud to offer a top-notch education that is a result of the university’s focus on student success as demonstrated by our excellent academic and co-curricular programs with top-notch faculty,” said President Timothy E. Trainor, Ph.D. “I am also pleased to see that we have returned to the ethnic diversity and social mobility lists.”
The Best Regional University rankings focus on academic quality and place emphasis on outcome measures – including graduation rates, retention rates, graduate indebtedness and social mobility. Additionally, it included a peer assessment score and weighed the institution’s average alumni giving rate.
Slightly more than 40% of North regional universities qualified as Best Value Colleges. The Mount placed at No. 25 on the list. The university supports students with strong financial aid packages and ensures that the tuition rate is competitive. Nearly 100% of students receive merit and/or need-based financial aid.
The Mount was again recognized as a top 50 institution in the 2022 Best Colleges for Veterans rankings for the North region, placing 44th. These rankings are designed to “provide military veterans and active-duty service members with data on which top-ranked schools offer benefits that can help them make pursuing a college education more affordable,” according to U.S. News. Fewer than 30% of the ranked universities in the North qualified for this list.
The Mount is part of the veterans’ work-study program, funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Under the program, a veteran work-study student, based in the registrar’s office, is available to guide prospective and current veteran students on how to use their GI Bill benefits, provide assistance in finding veteran-specific scholarships or supply information about education benefits available for their families.
Over the past several years, the Mount has placed increased emphasis on providing support to first-generation and disadvantaged students through the work of the Center for Student Engagement and Success and Learning Services staff as well as the Mount 101 summer bridge program for incoming freshmen. This emphasis on student retention and success is reflected in the university’s inclusion on the Top Performers on Social Mobility list, ranking at 150 of 175 in the North.
On the Campus Ethnic Diversity list, the Mount earned a placement of 31 of 81 ranked universities in the north. This placement reflects the university’s increased student diversity over the past several years.