NGU soars 28 spots in U.S. News’ Best Regional Universities South ranking

TIGERVILLE, S.C. — In U.S. News & World Report 2020 college rankings released earlier this week, North Greenville University rose 28 ranking positions to No. 50 among the “Best Regional Universities” in the South.

NGU is named in two other ranking categories: No. 51 in “Best Value Schools” and No. 17 in the new “Top Performers on Social Mobility” list for Southern schools.  Also, the university’s online programs are ranked for the first time this year at No. 113 in “Best Online Graduate Business Programs” (excluding M.B.A.) and No. 159 in “Best Online Bachelor’s Programs.”

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“We believe North Greenville is a special institution with a unique mission even without third-party evaluations like the U.S. News rankings, but to see the huge jump in overall rankings was a genuine encouragement to our work,” said NGU President Dr. Gene C. Fant, Jr.

Economically disadvantaged students are less likely than others to finish college, but some colleges are more successful than others at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants. The majority of these federal grants are awarded to students whose adjusted gross family incomes are under $50,000. NGU performed No. 17 best on the “Top Performers on Social Mobility” ranking for Southern schools. 

Which colleges and universities offer students the best value? According to U.S. News, the calculation used here takes into account a school's academic quality, as indicated by its 2020 U.S. News Best Colleges ranking, and the 2018-2019 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 deal. Only schools ranked in or near the top half of their categories are included because U.S. News considers the most significant values to be among colleges that are above average academically.

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U.S. News & World Report’s methodology for ranking universities is based on data retrieved from each institution. For the 2020 rankings, schools are grouped into ten different ranking categories based on their academic missions. Within each category, the sum of weighted, normalized values across 15 indicators of academic quality determines each school's overall score. Some of the indicators include student outcomes, social mobility, graduation and retention rates, graduation rate performance, faculty resources, expert opinion, financial resources, student excellence, standardized test scores of current students, high school class standing of current students, and alumni giving.

See the complete U.S. News & World Report rankings here.

Learn more about NGU's other recognitions, visit www.ngu.edu/about-ngu and for information on undergraduate and graduate degree program offerings, visit www.ngu.edu/academics.

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