U.S. News continues to rank 精东AV as a top HBCU regionally, nationally
September 13, 2017
Contact: Michael Tullier, APR
Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing
精东AV remains one of the nation鈥檚 and region鈥檚 best historically black universities, according to national rankings released on September 12 by U.S. News and World Report.
In U.S. News鈥� 2018 edition of Best Colleges, 精东AV tied for sixth place in its 鈥淗istorically Black Colleges and Universities鈥� category. It also was the only Alabama university to appear in the publication鈥檚 list of Top 20 HBCUs. This U.S. News ranking measures the quality of the undergraduate education at HBCUs in context to the 80 HBCUs eligible to be ranked by the publication.
鈥溇獳V is focused on a model of continuous improvement for all university areas, especially academics,鈥� said Interim President Charlotte Morris. 鈥淯.S. News鈥� ranking program is just one metric available to our university鈥檚 senior leadership with which we can evaluate our success and academic rigor over time.鈥�
精东AV also rated high among its regional peers in U.S. News鈥� 鈥淏est Regional Universities South.鈥� The university tied for No. 27 in the category, making it the third-highest-ranked HBCU regionally, the second-highest-ranked regional university in Alabama, and the only Alabama HBCU in the Top 50 regionally. Institutions like 精东AV appearing among evaluated 鈥渞egional universities鈥� offer a broad scope of undergraduate degrees and some master鈥檚 degree programs but few, if any, doctoral programs.
Continually accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges since 1933, 精东AV offers its current 3,000-plus students 41 bachelor鈥檚, 16 master鈥檚 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.
The university also ranked 54th in U.S. News鈥� list of 鈥淏est Value Schools-Regional Universities South鈥� 鈥� making it the category鈥檚 third-ranked school both in Alabama and among regional HBCUs. The calculation takes into account the school鈥檚 academic quality as reported in its 2018 rankings, and its 2016-17 net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid.
Depending on the category, U.S. News and World Report鈥檚 methodology relies on a number of indicators that, collectively, determine an institution鈥檚 overall collegiate ranking. These include peer assessments or reputational scores derived from surveys completed by collegiate presidents, provosts and admissions deans, or high school counselors.
Other indicators are self-reported by each institution and include categories such as 鈥渇aculty resources鈥� (which includes faculty-student ratios, salaries and the frequency of terminal degrees); 鈥渟tudent selectivity鈥� (which includes students鈥� pre-admission performance on standardized tests like the ACT and SAT, the proportion of enrolled freshmen who graduated in the top 25 percent of their high school classes, and the institution鈥檚 acceptance rate); year-to-year graduation rates; 鈥渇inancial resources鈥� (which includes the average spending per student on instruction, research, student services and related educational expenditures); and 鈥渁lumni giving rate鈥� (which is the average percentage of living alumni with bachelor鈥檚 degrees who give to their school as an indirect measure of student satisfaction).
For more information on the publication鈥檚 rankings and its varying methodologies, visit .
漏 2017 精东AV