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U.S. News ranks Dordt on best college, best price, and best graduation rate lists

August 22, 2008

Dordt College ranked among the best in three separate categories in the 2009 America’s Best Colleges U.S. News & World Report(USN&WR) rankings.

• Dordt placed sixth this year on the Midwest region’s Best Baccalaureate Colleges list, with an overall score of 79. Tying for fourth/fifth places were Cedarville University (Ohio) and Northwestern College (Iowa), with overall scores of 80. Dordt College has been on the USN&WR best colleges listing since 1993, and this year marks the fifth time it has been among the top 10.
• Dordt College was back again on the “Great Schools, Great Prices” top 10 list, this year at number eight. USN&WR determines which colleges offer the best value in relation to academic quality by comparing their ranking with the average net cost of attendance.
• In a “Key Criteria in Judging Schools” top five list, Dordt College had the fifth highest graduation rate. USN&WR states, “This indicator of added value shows the effect of the college’s programs and policies on the graduation rate of students …if the actual graduation rate is higher than our predicted rate, the college is enhancing achievement.”

“Dordt College is excited to be noted as one of the top colleges in the Midwest, as well as being one of the most affordable,” said Dordt’s president, Dr. Carl E. Zylstra in response to the 2009 rankings. “It’s our goal to make a Christian college experience available to anyone who desires a top quality, faith based, affordable education as they prepare to take their place in God’s world.”

Data accompanying the rankings shows Dordt’s freshman retention rate at 83 percent, topped only by Indiana’s Bethel College and Taylor University. Also, Dordt College’s average alumni giving rate was the highest among all the institutions on the Midwest Baccalaureate Colleges listing at 41 percent. USN&WR stated that when living alumni choose to give financial support to their school it is a “measure of student satisfaction.”

The America’s Best Colleges special issue is available on newsstands in September. All ranking information is available on the USN&WR website, where copies of the Best Colleges guidebook may also be purchased.

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