Sep. 13—STORRS — U.S. News and World Report ranked the University of Connecticut 26th among public institutions, dropping three spots from the previous year.
It is the first time the university has not made the top 25 since 2012.
According to UConn Spokesperson Stephanie Reitz, UConn's fall from the top 25 was not due to a dip in performance or any notable declines.
"In fact, UConn's scores remain consistently high in most areas, particularly key indicators of student success," she wrote. The rankings were released on Monday.
Reitz said several other universities "stepped up their game" the last few years and performed "better than expected" in some areas.
"No ranking fully captures an institution, but this is one measure that prospective students and families do look at as they consider their options," UConn Interim President Radenka Maric said in a UConn Today story. "Our position this year is very respectable and UConn remains among the best public universities in the nation. That said, we are not satisfied and strongly believe that we must continually make the investments and strategic choices necessary to ensure we rise in the ranks in the years ahead."
U.S. News rankings reflect academic quality, graduation rates, retention rates, graduate indebtedness and social mobility. UConn is one of 227 public institutions in the nation that were part of U.S. News and World Report's survey this year. The rankings included a total of 440 institutions, including public and private colleges.
UConn is tied with Texas A&M University and UMass Amherst for 26th among public institutions.
It also ranked 67th among national universities, dropping four spots from last year.
UConn tied with four other institutions in that category: Texas A&M in Texas, UMass Amherst in Amherst, Mass., Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass., and Yeshiva University in New York.
The UConn rankings reflect decreasing graduate indebtedness, both in amount owed and percentage of students graduating with loans to repay, as well as a solid, six-year graduation rate.
"UConn continues to provide an excellent academic experience that serves our residents and our state well, delivering the best outcomes with the resources that we have available," UConn Interim Executive Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer Lloyd Blanchard said, "We operate in a highly-competitive, national market, however, and any notable gains that our competitors make will have an effect on UConn's ranking if we sit still. "
UConn saw a steady increase among public institutions from 2000, when it ranked 38, up until this year. Reitz wrote that UConn's "strong showing" in the rankings came despite demographic changes that shrunk the nation's high school graduate pools, changes in state aid and other financial indicators and other factors, including lingering effects of the pandemic.
She said despite those challenges, UConn had an unprecedented candidate pool of more than 43,000 for the class of 2026.
Of those, a record number of 4,075 first-year students began their UConn careers last month.
Follow Michelle Warren on Twitter-@mwarrentc.
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