NWC ranked sixth by U.S. News

Northwestern College is ranked tied for sixth among 95 Midwestern regional colleges in U.S. News & World Report's 2015 Best Colleges guidebook. This is the eighth year in a row for Northwestern to be in the top 10 of its category. The rankings, which include 1,365 schools nationwide, are available at www.usnews.com/colleges.

"The U.S. News ranking, along with high rankings from Washington Monthly, GreatValueColleges.net and Forbes, affirm what our alumni and students say about the quality of education Northwestern provides," says Greg Christy, Northwestern College's president. "This ranking is yet another indicator of the strength of our faculty and their commitment to excellence in teaching and mentoring students."

The rankings are based on key measures of quality such as academic reputation; retention (freshman retention and graduation rate); faculty resources (including class size, the percentage of faculty with the top academic degree, student-faculty ratio and compensation); student selectivity; financial resources; and alumni giving.

Northwestern was in the top 10 in several of the individual categories, including peer assessment, average graduation rate (63 percent), and alumni giving rate (22 percent).

In addition, Northwestern was ranked second among Midwestern colleges on U.S. News' Best Colleges for Veterans list.