Magazine ranks Trinity as top CCCU member among national universities
Deerfield, Ill. - In its 2016 college rankings issue, Washington Monthly ranks Trinity International University higher among national universities than any other institution with full membership in the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
The magazine's editors started their ranking process this year with 1,863 U.S. colleges that are listed in the U.S. Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and are listed in the Carnegie Basic Classifications.
In all, 742 colleges and universities made the 2016 Washington Monthly rankings, including 303 schools in the national universities Carnegie classification, 239 liberal arts colleges, 100 master's universities, and 100 baccalaureate colleges. The rankings can be found in the September/October issue released late this month.
Because Trinity grants a large number of graduate degrees, its Carnegie classification places it in the largest group with research universities such as Stanford and Harvard, which ranked first and second respectively on the magazine's new list.
Trinity is 133rd in that 2016 national universities ranking, ahead of institutions such as Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Auburn, Oregon, Miami of Ohio, and Penn State.
Seven other CCCU full members also received Washington Monthly rankings in the national universities category: Regent (164th), Azusa (181st), Seattle Pacific (204th), Trevecca Nazarene (248th), Dallas Baptist (288th), Lipscomb (291st), and Biola (296th).
Editors say the rankings are based on three equally weighted categories: social mobility, research, and service.
Social mobility includes graduation rate, percentage of first-generation college students, net price, Pell Grant performance, and loan repayments. The research category factors in expenditures, Bachelor-to-Ph.D. progression, faculty awards, and faculty national academy memberships. The service category includes involvement in the Peace Corps and ROTC, the percentage of federal work-study funds spent on service, and service to the community.
Trinity's highest category rankings were in academic performances of Pell Grant recipients (4th), community service (26th), student loan repayment rate (49th), graduation rate performance (69th), and the academic performances of first-generation college students (73rd).
"Rankings are often confusing, and each one carries its own biases," Trinity President David S. Dockery said. "We will never draw our institutional identity from these evaluations, but we are pleased by the strong affirmation Trinity receives in the 2016 Washington Monthly rankings."