Ursinus Among Top 11 in Pa., Top 6% in ROI Nationally

Ursinus ranked No. 11 of liberal arts schools in Pennsylvania—and tied for 89 nationally—on U.S. News and World Report’s annual Best Colleges list of national liberal arts colleges. Ursinus shares the No. 11 ranking with Juniata College. Nationally, there are three sets of ties in the 80s; Ursinus shares the No. 89 ranking with Juniata College, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Stonehill College (Mass.), and Wheaton College (Mass.).

U.S. News also ranked Ursinus No. 10 in Pennsylvania—and 74th nationally—in the list of “Best Value Schools,” which takes into account a school’s academic quality, as indicated by its 2023 U.S. News Best Colleges ranking, and the 2021-22 net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid. The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal, according to the publication.

Ursinus jumped to No. 70 (up from 127 last year) on the list of Top Performers on Social Mobility Among National Liberal Arts Colleges, which is based on Pell student graduation rates. Ursinus tied with 10 other colleges: Augustana College (Ill.); Bard College (N.Y.); Beloit College (Wis.); Hanover College (Ind.); Occidental College (Calif.); Pillar College (N.J.); Soka University of America (Calif.); Wellesley College (Mass.); Willamette University (Ore.); and Young Harris College (Ga.).

The Best Colleges ranking is just the latest national accolade Ursinus has earned this year.

A 2022 report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce that ranked 4,500 colleges and universities by return on investment (ROI) found that liberal arts colleges outperform other institutions by more than $200,000 over the long term. Higher still is Ursinus College’s ROI, which is 29% more than the median for all liberal arts colleges, placing Ursinus in the top 6% of all colleges and universities in the nation.

The Princeton Review once again included Ursinus among the best 388 colleges in the country while also naming it one of the “academically outstanding” institutions in the northeast, as well as one of the top “Green Colleges.” Ranked among the Top 20 Pennsylvania liberal arts colleges by Washington Monthly, Ursinus was also ranked 6th in the state in the “Bachelor’s to Ph.D.” category and 7th in the “Research” category.