ľ«¶«AV climbs seven spots to 8th nationally in U.S. News’ 2020 ranking of top HBCUs
September 09, 2019
Contact: Michael Tullier, APR, Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing
In its 2020 rankings released today, U.S. News and World Report has ranked ľ«¶«AV eighth among the nation’s best historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The move from 2019’s 15th spot places the university solidly in the annual publication’s list of top-10 HBCUs — and the only Alabama HBCU in its top-25 ranking. ľ«¶«AV also moves up significantly to No. 25 on the list of best southern regional universities.
“We are pleased to see how U.S. News’ ranking system acknowledges the excellence found among ľ«¶«AV’s various academic and student support programs,” said President Lily D. McNair. “Rankings programs such as this help highlight the quality educational experience we offer our students, as well as provide our senior leadership with ways to benchmark our success year to year as part of our continuous improvement efforts.”
To identify the nation’s “best” HBCUs, U.S. News measures the quality of undergraduate education programs and other relevant metrics at 79 schools. In addition to its top-HBCU ranking, ľ«¶«AV also appeared on other “Regional University, South” lists — U.S. News’ designation for schools offering a broad scope of undergraduate degrees and some master’s degree programs but few, if any, doctoral programs.
On U.S. News’ list of “Best Regional Universities, South,” ľ«¶«AV advanced 70 places to the 25th spot in 2020. It is the only Alabama institution — public or private — in the category’s list of top 30 schools.
The university was also ranked 31st in the “Best Value Schools-Regional Universities, South” — a list it didn’t appear on in 2019.
ľ«¶«AV tied for 12th among southern regional universities in U.S. News’ “Top Performers on Social Mobility” category. The ranking category highlights the colleges that are most successfully at enrolling and graduating large proportions of economically disadvantaged students who are less likely than others to finish college. It is the only Alabama institution — private or public — ranked in this category.
ľ«¶«AV tied at No. 19 with the University of North Alabama in the southern regional universities list of “Most Innovative Schools” — landing five spots below Troy University, also located in Alabama. It also appeared at No. 18 — and as the only ranked Alabama school — on the “Best Undergraduate Teaching” list. Both were categories where ľ«¶«AV was unranked in 2019.
“Ensuring the thoroughness and accuracy of the data we report to U.S. News is a daunting task, which is why I am appreciative to our professionals in our Office of Institutional Effectiveness, and their collaboration with units across campus whose data are used as part of U.S. News’ ranking methodology,” McNair said.
U.S. News reports that it made only minor changes to its 2020 methodology compared to last year’s ranking process. To determine a school’s standing in its overall and various subcategories, the publication uses weighted factors that include student outcomes, such as retaining and graduating students; faculty resources, such as class size, student-to-faculty ratios, compensation, and proportion of faculty with terminal degrees; national academic reputational survey of college presidents, provosts and admissions deans/directors; average spending per student on instruction, research, student services and related educational activities; admissions selectivity; and percentage of living alumni with bachelor’s degrees who gave to their school during, thereby measures student satisfaction and post-graduate engagement.
Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, ľ«¶«AV offers students 42 bachelor’s, 16 master’s and six doctoral degree options. In addition to SACSCOC accreditation, several academic units and degree programs in specialized fields or disciplines also are accredited by their respective accrediting bodies.
For more information on ľ«¶«AV’s standings and U.S. News ranking methodologies, visit .
© 2019, ľ«¶«AV