By Annabelle Blair | Echo
For the 10th straight year, Taylor ranked first in the 2017 U.S. News & World Report survey, America's Best Colleges. The number one spot is shared with Calvin College (Michigan) in the category Best Regional Colleges Midwest.
The schools tied due to an assessment based on a composite weighted score. Graduation and retention rates, peer assessment of excellence, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance and alumni giving are some of the elements the report used to evaluate colleges.
President Lowell Haines released an email announcement shortly after midnight on Tuesday, informing the campus and expressing gratitude towards Taylor's community of faculty, staff, students, parents, friends, alumni and donors.
Upland Town Council President John Bonham, a Taylor graduate, said he works with the university in various contexts. "Taylor has received this recognition on a national level as a university," Bonham said, "but that same thing could be said of their involvement with the town. They've been intentional about being a part of Upland."
The region's top three rankings have included Taylor for the last 20 years. According to Jim Garringer, Taylor's director of media relations, U.S. News solicits the university every year with a survey and expectation of participation. Taylor's Offices of Financial Aid, Finance and Institutional Research each complete a section of the survey and generally submit their results during the month of May.
The report compares Taylor with schools of similar size-in terms of endowment, number of students and national profile within its winning category-not large state-run or private schools.
Within the survey's 2017 Best Regional Colleges-Midwest category and three other primary categories, a total of 1,374 schools were listed.
Garringer sees the ranking as a reminder of Taylor's influence within the larger network of academia. "This is a wonderful validation from a very well-respected news organization," he said. "We praise God for that, and we don't take it for granted."
