Aug. 15, 2008
Lyon College News Bureau
Forbes.com ranks Lyon as one of "America's Best Colleges"
Lyon College is on a select list of "America's Best
Colleges," according to Forbes.com. Forbes.com, in conjunction with Ohio University economist Dr. Richard Vedder and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP), this week released its first ranking of "America's Best Colleges," ranking Lyon College 114th out of the nation's 4,000 colleges and universities.
"Forbes' rankings focus on important factors such as faculty quality, career success of graduates, cost, and on-time graduation. We agree that these are important indicators of the quality of a college education and are delighted to find that this independent study done by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity places Lyon among the top 3% of all U.S. colleges and universities," said Lyon College President Walter Roettger.
The CCAP selected a short list of 569 institutions primarily from the top ranks
of U.S. News & World Report's rankings for their study. They then ranked 569
undergraduate institutions based "the quality of the education they provide and
how much their students achieve."
"CCAP's methodology attempts to put itself in the student's shoes," Forbes.com
said.
The organization based 25 percent of the rankings on seven million student
evaluations of courses and instructors at the Web site RateMyProfessors.com and
another 25 percent on how many of the school's alumni are listed among the
notable people in "Who's Who in America."
The other half of the ranking is based on three factors: the average amount of
student debt at graduation held by those who borrowed, the percentage of
students graduating in four years and the number of students or faculty who have
won nationally competitive awards.
"Small liberal arts schools shine in our rankings, probably due to both the
quality of their faculty and the personal attention they can provide," said the
authors of the report, Vedder and Michael Noer of Forbes.com.
The median undergraduate enrollment in the top-50-ranked schools is just 2,285,
and only one of the top 50 has more than 10,000 undergraduate students.
The website includes a quote from Lyon College senior Katee Castleman of
Batesville. She said, "Lyon College provides a warm, friendly atmosphere that
allows students to excel in areas other than the classroom. The degree of
personal growth and development that students experience while at Lyon far
exceeds that which would be possible at a larger college or university."
Forbes.com ranked Princeton University the best school in the nation, followed
by the California Institute of Technology and Harvard.
Forbes.com Inc., (