U.S. News ranks HU among South’s best for 23rd year

Sept. 13, 2016 |

Harding University has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best universities in the South for the 23rd consecutive year. The rankings are in the magazine’s “Best Colleges 2017” guidebook, available Oct. 4.

The University ranked 24th this year, maintaining its position in the top 25 regional universities in the South for the sixth consecutive year. The report also ranked Harding at No. 9 on its “Great Schools, Great Prices” list of best values in the South.

The best value ranking considers a school’s academic quality and its 2015-16 cost of attendance — higher academic quality and lower cost equal a better value. Harding was the only Arkansas school included in the top 15 of this regional ranking.

Harding was included in the Best Regional Universities category, which features schools offering a full range of undergraduate majors and master’s programs and some doctoral programs. The 653 universities in this category were ranked against their peer groups in one of four geographic regions — North, South, Midwest and West. The magazine included 12 states in its southern region, ranking universities from Arkansas to North Carolina and from West Virginia to Florida.

“Harding University’s continued high rankings in this survey reflect the dedication of our faculty and staff members,” President Bruce McLarty said. “We call ourselves ‘A Community of Mission,’ and the U.S. News rankings remind us that together we are providing a truly outstanding university experience for the students who come to us from all across the United States and around the world.”

To determine the rankings, the magazine evaluated universities across the nation in areas such as graduation rate, retention of students, peer assessment, class size, student-to-faculty ratio, student selectivity and alumni giving rate.

Harding was first ranked by U.S. News and World Report in 1994 when enrollment was just above 4,000. Now, with an enrollment of 5,904, Harding is the largest private university in Arkansas.