Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.
Two Nevada public schools made Forbes’ list of America’s Best Colleges this year.
UNLV placed 486 while UNR came in at 406.
The second-annual ranking compiles the top 500 colleges and universities in the country, basing the criteria on how well a school meets student needs.
More specifically, the ranking is based 25 percent on student satisfaction with course instruction, 25 percent on indicators of post-graduate employment success, 16.67 percent on the likelihood of graduation within four years and 20 percent on estimated loan debt. In addition, the list takes into consideration 13.33 percent of student and faculty academic and research awards.
The list was compiled by Forbes and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. It includes both private and public institutions.
In 2008, UNLV ranked 393; UNR was not included on the list.
The U.S. Military Academy topped the list this year, beating Princeton University, which formerly held the No. 1 spot.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, there are more than 4,000 colleges in the country, and the CCAP only ranks the top approximately 15 percent of all undergraduate institutions.
“We’re very pleased to have made the list,” said Jane Tors, director of media relations at UNR. “There are thousands of colleges and universities across the U.S. I would love for us to be higher, but I think being on the list is certainly an achievement.”
Tors said it is just another reason for the university to strive to do better.
“We set a mark we can seek to improve on,” she said.
UNLV officials were not available for comment on Friday.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy