Carroll College Ranked Top Regional College of the West

Carroll College, for the fourth straight year, ranked as the No. 1 Regional College in the West, according to the prestigious U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2015 rankings.

Carroll also earned a No. 2 rank for Best Value College in the West.

U.S. News & World Report has released its Best Colleges rankings for 30 years, according to its chief data strategist Robert J. Morse. “It’s probably the most influential U.S. ranking of colleges.

“We’re the oldest, biggest and get the most views,” he said, referring to their website page views.

The rankings are a valuable tool for prospective students to more easily compare the quality of similar academic institutions. They evaluate 1,600 accredited four-year colleges on 16 indicators of academic excellence, including peer assessment, graduation and student retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.

“It’s really remarkable,” said Carroll President Tom Evans of Carroll’s ranking. “It speaks very well to what we are doing.”

“I think the retention rate is very important,” said Evans. “I think retention rate is really important for academic rigor. It’s kind of a happiness quotient of our students -- it’s a measure of our success.”

Carroll held the top spot for Regional Colleges in the West with its 82 percent average Freshman Retention Rate.

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