Harding moves up in U.S. News ranking among South’s best schools

Sept. 13, 2018 | Harding University has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a top university in the South, moving up three spots to 20th from 23rd for 2017. Harding has been ranked as a top school for 25 consecutive years. The rankings are in the magazine’s “Best Colleges 2019” guidebook, available Oct. 16. The University’s spot at 20th this year maintains its position as a top 25 regional university in the South for the eighth consecutive year. The report also ranked Harding in the top ten on its “Best Value Schools”  regional list in the South. The best value ranking considers a school’s academic quality and its 2017-18 net cost of attendance. “The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal,” U.S. News and World Report said in summary materials. “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.” 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 656 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. “We are so proud that Harding continues to move up in the rankings for best schools in the South,” said Jana Rucker, vice president for university communications and enrollment. “Not only does Harding provide an inspiring Christian environment for our students, we also deliver exceptionally strong degree programs. This ranking is evidence of that.” 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. For the full list of rankings visit usnews.com/colleges .