Carolyn Wheat

210-999-8406

cwheat@trinity.edu

Trinity University Named Best in the West and Ranked #1 in Value by U.S. News & World Report

August 20, 1999  - Trinity University was ranked #1 in the West for the eighth consecutive year in U.S. News & World Report's guide, "America's Best Colleges."  Trinity also topped the magazine's "Great Schools at Great Prices" list as the best value in the West.  The University's engineering science program was ranked 26th among the best programs at schools whose highest degree is a bachelor's or master's. "The rankings are an honor that recognize Trinity's prestige as a liberal arts and sciences university," said Trinity President John Brazil.  "The U.S. News rankings of American colleges, in general, reflect the relative strengths and quality of institutions.  However, many of us in higher education consider the rankings an incomplete picture of the true value of a college education." U.S. News bases its rankings on academic reputation, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.  The value rankings relate the cost of attending a college or university to its quality. Trinity had an overall score of 100 in the quality ranking.  The University received a 4.3 (out of a possible 5.0) for academic reputation and had the second highest graduation rate in the region, tied for the highest percentage of freshmen in the top 25% of their high school class, and had the highest SAT / ACT scores in the 25-75 percentile. U.S. News groups schools into categories built upon a classification system maintained by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.  The magazine collapses eight of the Carnegie categories into four: national universities, national liberal arts colleges, regional universities. and regional liberal arts.  The regional schools are placed into one of four geographic categories (North, South, Midwest, and West). Ranked with schools of similar mission, Trinity University is classified as a comprehensive college by the Carnegie Foundation.  Institutions in this classification offer a full range of undergraduate programs and provide graduate education at the master's level.  Although this is the classification of colleges and universities U.S. News labels regional, Trinity annually enrolls more than 30% of its students from outside of the state of Texas and from several foreign countries.

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Last updated on November 8, 2000 by the Office of Public Relations