USF Named in America’s Top Colleges 2021 Listing by Forbes

Joliet, Ill. – The University of St. Francis (USF) announced today that it has been included in Forbes’ “America’s Top Colleges 2021” listing. The listing includes just 600 of the nearly 2,700 degree-granting institutions in the United States. “Throughout its first 100 years, USF maintained its focus on offering a Catholic, comprehensive educational experience – rooted in the liberal arts and challenged by our Franciscan values and charism – to each and every student. This focus and commitment are as strong, alive and well today in our second century as a higher educational institution as ever before, which is demonstrated through national recognition such as this,” USF President Arvid C. Johnson, Ph.D., said. Forbes spokesperson Christian Kreznar explained the selection methodology used by Forbes to compile its “America’s Top Colleges 2021” listing. “We first selected colleges and universities that educate undergraduates, based on their Carnegie Classification, a higher education framework that categorizes schools by their degree offerings, research output and specialty focus. We selected doctoral research universities, master’s universities and colleges and baccalaureate colleges. We also included colleges that provide specialized four-year programs in engineering, business and art,” said Kresznar. “From that pool we drew schools that had sufficient data from the following sources: The College Scorecard and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), two federal databases that track student outcomes and institutional characteristics. We also drew from PayScale, a salary reporting and comparison company; Third Way, a D.C.-based think tank that developed the Price-to-Earnings Premium; and the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). We cut schools with fewer than 300 total undergraduates,” Kreznar added. Visit forbes.com/top-colleges/ to view Forbes’ complete “America’s Top Colleges 2021” listing. The University of St. Francis is consistently ranked among the best colleges and universities across the Illinois and the nation when it comes to quality education, affordability, and accessibility. To learn more about USF’s other recent rankings, please visit stfrancis.edu/nationally-ranked/. : : The University of St. Francis, in Joliet, Ill., serves close to 4,000 students nationwide and offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, nursing and social work. There are over 52,000 USF alumni across the globe. For information, call 800-735-7500 or visit stfrancis.edu. University of St. Francis: Bigger thinking. Brighter purpose. # # #