PUC Ranked in Top Ten by U.S. News & World Report

Pacific Union College has once again found itself ranked in the top ten schools in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges list. Furthermore, the college’s name appears four times in the 2020 rankings, all within the top 15. PUC has been ranked for the following:

#10 in Regional Colleges West
#7 in Best Colleges for Veterans
#4 in Best Value Schools
#14 inTop Performers on Social Mobility

"Our students are well prepared for success,” says Milbert Mariano, academic dean at PUC. “PUC’s high rankings in U.S. News & World Report affirm our quality and excellence as an institution.”

Regional Colleges are split into four regions and are placed in this category based on the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education’s Basic Classification system, the accepted standard in U.S. education. A few of the factors and weights included in the methodology are graduation and retention rates, graduation rate performance, social mobility, faculty and financial resources, student excellence, and alumni giving. PUC is the only Adventist school in the top ten.

Best Colleges for Veterans are selected based on meeting the following criteria: certified for the GI Bill, participates in the Yellow Ribbon Program, for the third consecutive year enrolled a minimum of 20 veterans and active service members, and be ranked in the top half of its 2020 edition Best Colleges ranking category. PUC is the only Adventist college ranked on this list.

Best Value Schools are ranked based on giving students the best value for their money. The school’s academic quality is considered, along with its net cost of attendance for students receiving the average level of need-based financial aid in 2018-2019. PUC ranked #4 among Regional Colleges West for having a high quality program and a comparatively lower cost. Only schools ranked among the top half of their categories are included in this ranking.

Top Performers on Social Mobility are selected based on how successful they are at graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded Pell Grants. (The vast majority of these federal grants are awarded to students whose adjusted gross family incomes are under $50,000.)

PUC has also been ranked in the top ten by Washington Monthly in 2019; for details, read the article.