Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College continues to be recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of the nation’s best colleges. For eleven consecutive years, SMWC ranked in the top tier of the Best Regional Colleges ranking by the report. This year, due to a restructure of classification, SMWC is listed in a new category, Best Regional Universities Midwest. The college ranks at number 46 out of 153.
According to U.S. News and World Report, the reclassification by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education focuses on graduation, retention, social mobility, financial resources, student excellence, alumni giving and expert opinion. Institutions in the regional university category offers a broad scope of undergraduate degrees and some master’s degree programs.
Additionally, SMWC is recognized among the Best Value, Best Regional Universities Midwest and in a new category, Social Mobility, Regional Universities Midwest.
The Best Value assessment is based on the ratio of quality to price, percentage of all undergraduates receiving need-based financial aid and the average discount. 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.
Social mobility measures how well schools graduated students who received federal Pell Grants – those typically coming from households whose family incomes are less than $50,000 annually. During the 2018-19 academic year, 47 percent of SMWC students that graduated with a bachelor’s degree were Pell Grant recipients.