For the 24th consecutive year, U.S. New and World Report named OBU as Oklahoma\u2019s highest-ranked college on the \u201cBest Regional Colleges of the West\u201d list. OBU also ranked first on the \u201cLeast Debt\u201d for graduating students list for regional colleges of the West and came in at number eight on the \u201cGreat Schools, Great Prices\u201d list for Western universities. OBU is the only Oklahoma college listed on the \u201cA-Plus Schools for B Students\u201d list for regional colleges, ranking second in the West.<\/p>\n
The exclusive rankings, which include more than 1,400 schools nationwide, were released Sept. 12. They will also appear in the 2018 edition of the \u201cBest Colleges 2018\u201d guidebook, available online now and on newsstands Oct. 10.<\/p>\n
OBU President Dr. David Wesley Whitlock is pleased to once again receive this recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cOklahoma Baptist University is committed to the highest levels of excellence in academic achievement,\u201d Whitlock said. \u201cThe U.S. News and World Report rankings represent and validate the outstanding performance and achievements of OBU\u2019s marvelous faculty, staff and students. We are pleased to see that our affordability is also recognized, with OBU ranked first for Western colleges for our students having the least debt upon graduation. This is a result of the numerous scholarship and financial aid opportunities that help make an OBU degree so affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n
OBU is ranked third on the list of \u201cBest Colleges of the West.\u201d This is the 26th consecutive year OBU has been ranked in the top 10. According to the report, the colleges listed as \u201cBest Regional Colleges\u201d focus mostly on the undergraduate experience and offer a broad range of programs in the liberal arts, as well as in fields such as business, nursing and education.<\/p>\n
Dr. Stan Norman, provost and executive vice president for campus life, is pleased to see the efforts of the OBU community being acknowledged.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hard work and dedication of the OBU community is apparent in the release of these rankings,\u201d Norman said. \u201cThe University is committed to the highest level of academic excellence and strives to transform the lives of students as they pursue an education on Bison Hill. We appreciate the tireless efforts of our faculty, staff and students, efforts that directly contribute to these rankings. We are committed to offering an affordable, world-class education at OBU, one that shapes the worldview of our students while challenging them to grow academically, spiritually and socially.\u201d<\/p>\n
OBU ranked first on the \u201cRegional Colleges of the West\u201d list for the \u201cLeast Debt\u201d rankings, underscoring the affordability and value of an education at OBU. This list was calculated according to the average debt loads for the graduating class of 2016. According to the report, only 58 percent of OBU students graduated with any student debt. One major factor in OBU’s low student debt burden and affordability is that every new freshman receives a guaranteed minimum $5,000 scholarship per year.<\/p>\n
OBU placed eighth on the \u201cGreat Schools, Great Prices\u201d list for Western universities, and was the only university in Oklahoma to make the top 10. The calculations for the \u201cGreat Schools, Great Prices\u201d rankings take into account a school’s academic quality, based on its U.S. News \u201cBest Colleges\u201d ranking, and the 2016-17 net cost of attendance for a student who receives the average level of need-based financial aid. The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal. Only schools in or near the top half of their U.S. News ranking categories are included because U.S. News considers the most significant values to be among colleges that perform well academically.<\/p>\n
OBU was one of only two institutions to qualify on the Regional Colleges of the West list for \u201cA-Plus Schools for B Students.\u201d These rankings are based on two variables, the school’s performance in the U.S. News and World Report’s \u201cBest Colleges\u201d rankings and the average freshman retention rate. The list includes exceptional colleges and universities that provide resources for academically average students to achieve success.<\/p>\n
According to information provided by U.S. News, their annual rankings system rests on two pillars. It relies on quantitative measures which education experts have proposed as reliable indicators of academic quality, and on the magazine’s nonpartisan view of \u201cwhat matters in education.\u201d First, schools are categorized by mission, which is derived from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The Carnegie classification has been the basis of the Best Colleges ranking since U.S. News’s first publication three decades ago.<\/p>\n
The Best Colleges package then examines how schools compare by weighing many factors, including graduation and retention rates (22.5 percent), assessment of excellence (22.5 percent), faculty resources (20 percent), student selectivity (12.5 percent), financial resources (10 percent), graduation rate performance (7.5 percent), and alumni giving (5 percent).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the 24th consecutive year, U.S. New and World Report named OBU as Oklahoma\u2019s highest-ranked college on the \u201cBest Regional Colleges of the West\u201d list. OBU also ranked first on the \u201cLeast Debt\u201d for graduating students list for regional colleges of the West and came in at number eight on the \u201cGreat Schools, Great Prices\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":""},"categories":[176,182],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.okbu.edu\/obumagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/us-news-rankings-2018.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7BMz3-I0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.okbu.edu\/obumagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.okbu.edu\/obumagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.okbu.edu\/obumagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.okbu.edu\/obumagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.okbu.edu\/obumagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2728"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.okbu.edu\/obumagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2736,"href":"https:\/\/www.okbu.edu\/obumagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728\/revisions\/2736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.okbu.edu\/obumagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.okbu.edu\/obumagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.okbu.edu\/obumagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.okbu.edu\/obumagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}