As the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville continues to increase enrollment — setting a new record this fall while crossing the 30,000 milestone for the first time — class sizes are larger, one reason the university fell nine spots in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings.
Out of 234 institutions ranked as top public schools by the publication last month, including more than 50 institutions that were added to the category for the latest ranking, UA tied for 87th with four other public institutions, including SEC rival Louisiana State University.
UA was tied for 78th with six other schools in last year’s ranking.
Contributing to this year’s lower rank: The number of classes at UA with fewer than 20 students decreased by 9.2%. With growing enrollment, the university’s “student selectivity” metric also took a hit.
UA’s land-grant mission emphasizes accessibility to education for all Arkansans, and administrators have focused in recent years on providing an avenue to the university for more in-state students.
The 2,835 in-state students in this year’s freshman class was up 8% from last year, and the university is intent on continuing to recruit within the state, Suzanne McCray, vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions, said.
The RazorBug, a vehicle used for marketing the university, continues to tour the state, and the university is increasing the number of days when application fees are waived for in-state students.
UA also has an initiative aimed at encouraging high school counselors to contact the university about potential applicants who might otherwise be overlooked.
The U.S. News & World Report rankings are based on more than 15 measures of academic quality, including graduation and retention rates, social mobility, faculty resources, survey data on academic reputation, average class sizes, graduate indebtedness, student achievement and alumni giving.
The publication says its aim is to provide data-driven information and guidance to help prospective students and their families understand their options.
UA tied for 176th among “national universities” — a category encompassing schools that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and Ph.D. programs — and 202nd for best value schools.
In-state tuition and fees remained essentially flat — an increase of less than 1% — this year, interim Chancellor Charles Robinson said.
“Our tuition is not the highest in the state, and I don’t want it to ever be the highest, [because] the cost of higher education is one of the greatest barriers to students coming to college,” Robinson said.
The university received high marks in the report for student success.
Last school year — for the fourth-consecutive year — UA said it set all-time records for its first-year retention rate (87%) and graduation rate (70%), both up 2% from the previous year.
The graduation rate for students receiving Pell Grants — typically awarded by the U.S. Department of Education to undergraduates with exceptional financial needs, and which usually don’t need to be repaid — ticked up by a percentage point, to 55%, but it remains an area university officials say they are committed to improving.
“Students with the lowest degree of financial security are also the most likely not to complete their education, so we have to do more to support their success,” Robinson said in a university news release. “That’s a big part of our land-grant responsibility — to not only provide students from Arkansas access to higher education, but also to provide the resources needed to help them graduate and launch successful careers.”
UA’s Sam F. Walton College of Business added more students — by far — this year than any other school on campus, and it also received attention from U.S. News.
The college tied for 39th for best undergraduate business programs. Its supply chain management program tied for 10th in the nation.
UA also tied for 104th for its engineering program in the category for schools where a doctorate is available.
UAMS
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ College of Nursing was recognized as one of the nation’s top 100 undergraduate nursing programs.
The Bachelor of Science in Nursing program tied for 67th out of 681 programs evaluated by U.S. News & World Report, which puts it in the top 10% nationwide, according to UAMS.
It was the only nursing school in Arkansas that ranked in the top 100.
“It’s an honor to be on this list of top BSN programs with our incredible peers,” Dean Patricia Cowan said in a news release.
“We have outstanding nursing students who are committed, and well-prepared, to advance the health of people not only in Arkansas but around the nation and world.”
All schools in the rankings were required to have a bachelor’s-level accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education or the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, and they needed to have recently awarded at least 40 Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees, according to UAMS.
In May, 125 students graduated from the UAMS program. More than 5,500 students have earned their undergraduate degrees since the program’s inception.
UALR
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock was ranked in several categories. It was 197th in the social mobility category, which measures success in graduating economically disadvantaged students who are less likely to finish college. It also ranked 184th for undergraduate engineering for schools where a doctorate is available in that field, 206th for undergraduate nursing, 219th for undergraduate business and 234th for undergraduate computer science.
The nursing school is the university’s largest undergraduate program, according to UALR. When accredited in 1990, the computer science program was the first of its kind accredited in the state, and that program was up 18 spots from last year’s rankings.
Arkansas Tech
For the second-consecutive year, Arkansas Tech University in Russellville was ranked as the top regional public university in the state. It was also first in the state for social mobility among public institutions.
Arkansas Tech was ranked among the top 32 public universities in the southern United States. It ranked 70th for regional universities in the South, and its engineering program was tied for 130th among schools where a doctorate isn’t available in that field.
Others
Hendrix College in Conway was 23rd in the most innovative schools category, an increase of 13 places from last year, and 55th for best undergraduate teaching, which was up nine places from last year. It was tied for 102nd in the national liberal arts colleges category.
Harding University, the state’s largest private university, tied for 263rd in the national universities category. The Searcy university’s engineering program tied for 151st among schools without a doctorate available in that field.
Arkansas State University in Jonesboro tied for 317th in the national universities category and for 163rd for top public schools. It tied with John Brown University, among others, for 110th for its engineering program among schools where a doctorate is not available in that field.
The University of the Ozarks in Clarksville was ranked sixth for regional colleges in the South. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff was 40th in that category. Philander Smith College in Little Rock was 41st. The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith was 58th — in a tie with Williams Baptist University in Walnut Ridge, among others. Central Baptist College in Conway was tied for 72nd.
John Brown University ranked 16th among regional universities — a separate category from regional colleges — in the South.
Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia was in a tie for 94th in that category. It also tied for 205th for engineering programs among schools where a doctorate in engineering isn’t available.
UAPB tied for 31st among national historically Black colleges and universities. Philander Smith tied for 40th in that category.
Print Headline: A growing UA ranks 87th on U.S. News list
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