PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Officials at the University of Maine at Presque Isle are pleased to announce that the institution earned three top rankings on U.S. News and World Report’s 2019 Best Colleges list. In this year’s annual rankings, UMPI was named among the 35 Best Regional Colleges in the North, the 15 Top Public Schools in the North, and the top 10 Regional Colleges in the North for graduates with least debt.
“We are honored to be recognized in three different categories of U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges List and to be spotlighted for the work we do as a campus to ensure that our students receive an education that is both high quality and affordable,” UMPI President Ray Rice said. “We’ve strengthened our commitment to college affordability through our The Way It Should Be program—the state’s first program providing free and significantly reduced tuition for eligible Maine students—and are pleased to have this further the work we’ve been recognized by U.S. News and World Report for doing: ensuring that students graduate with low debt.”
In its Best Regional Colleges in the North ranking, UMPI was listed as #31, earning first tier status. The ranking defines regional colleges as schools that focus on undergraduate education but grant fewer than half their degrees in liberal arts disciplines. The north region includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.
UMPI was listed as #14 in the Top Public Schools ranking list for Regional Colleges in the North. The ranking defines public colleges and universities as those that are typically operated under the supervision of state governments and funded, in part, by tax dollars and subsidies from the state. Such universities often offer free or discounted tuition to students considered residents of the state.
In its third ranking, the University was short-listed among Regional Colleges in the North for graduates with the least debt. U.S. News compiled a list of schools whose Class of 2017 graduated with the lightest debt load. The data included loans taken out by students from their colleges, from private financial institutions, and from federal, state, and local governments. UMPI came in at #6, and was the third public school to make the list.
U.S. News and World Report has published its Best Colleges rankings since 1983. According to its website, the rankings provide an excellent starting point for families searching for the best academic value for their money and allow them to compare, at a glance, the relative quality of institutions based on such widely accepted indicators of excellence as freshman retention and graduation rates and the strength of the faculty.
