U.S. News & World Report Ranks C-N among Best National Liberal Arts Colleges

U.S. News & World Report has ranked Carson-Newman College in its 2011 edition of Best Colleges. Additionally, C-N is championed in the publication’s “Least Debt” section and is noted as being an institution to which high school guidance counselors direct students.

“While we are pleased by our inclusion as a ‘Top Tier’ institution among the country’s best liberal arts colleges, we are more excited to be noted for educating students without leaving them with insurmountable debt,” said C-N President Randall O’Brien. “We are committed to providing resources to our students, many of whom are first generation students from our Appalachian region.”

U.S. News researchers examined “loans taken out by students from colleges, from private financial institutions, and from federal, state, and local governments.” It reports that one-third of Carson-Newman graduates are debt-free upon graduation, which ranks the College in the top seven percent of institutions cited in that category.

In the spring of this year, U.S. News asked guidance counselors from schools it ranked as “America’s Best High Schools” to list national liberal arts colleges they believe offer the best undergraduate education for their students.

“The top tier designation and the endorsement of high school counselors are powerful evidence of our exceptional faculty,” said Dr. O’Brien. “Our professors immerse themselves in the lives of their students, which, of course, is at the core of our mission to educate minds and hearts in a caring Christian community.”

U.S. News annually rates more than 1,400 colleges and universities, utilizing 16 factors that include alumni giving, class size, graduation and retention rates, graduation rate, peer assessment and student selectivity. Its recognition of Carson-Newman comes on the heels of The Princeton Review’s inclusion of the school as one of the best colleges in the Southeast. One of 133 institutions cited in the region, C-N’s faculty was described as “very intelligent (and) always accessible.”

Founded in 1851 in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Carson-Newman College provides its students a quality liberal arts education with a Christian worldview. For more information, call the College’s Admissions Office at 865-471-3223 or visit C-N’s website at www.cn.edu.