Monmouth University retained its highest-ever ranking for the second year in a row at No. 18 on U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 “Best Colleges” list in the Regional Universities North category. Monmouth is also featured on the lists for Best Colleges for Veterans, Best Value Schools, and Top Performers on Social Mobility. This year’s publication assessed an all-time high of 1,500 schools nationwide.
According to U.S. News, “Regional Universities offer a full range of undergraduate programs and some master’s programs but few doctoral programs. Regional Universities include Monmouth University, Stetson University, University of Dubuque and Sonoma State University. These rankings are split into four regions: North, South, Midwest and West.”
“External rankings remain a key measure of our continuing trajectory of access and excellence, and we are very proud of the continued validation from U.S. News & World Report,” said Monmouth University President Patrick F. Leahy. “Monmouth’s incoming first-year students recorded the highest average GPA (3.61) and the highest average SAT (1211) in the University’s history. Among the Class of 2026, more than 36 percent are first-generation students, over 26 percent identify as ethnically or racially diverse, and 30 percent are eligible for federal Pell Grants – all strong examples of our dedication to educational access,” he said.
Monmouth’s rank was assessed using 17 key measures of academic quality designed to help parents and students evaluate their options. U.S. News focuses on academic quality and places emphasis on outcome measures – including graduation rates, retention rates, graduate indebtedness and social mobility. Outcomes are the mostly highly weighted ranking factor, contributing 40 percent to each school’s overall score.
U.S. News also ranked Monmouth at No. 40 for Best Colleges for Veterans, which includes institutions that participate in “federal initiatives that help veterans and active-duty service members pay for their degrees.” Monmouth is also ranked as a Best Value university at No. 62, calculated by a school’s academic quality in comparison to its “net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid.” U.S. News additionally features Monmouth in its Top Performers on Social Mobility list at No. 77, evaluated by an institution’s ability to “advance social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants.”