UMPI earns three top rankings
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Officials at the University of Maine at Presque Isle recently announced that the institution earned three top rankings on U.S. News and World Report’s 2017 Best Colleges list.
In this year’s annual rankings, UMPI was named among the 50 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 very pleased to be recognized on this year’s Best Colleges List by U.S. News and World Report and honored with three rankings that showcase the hard work our faculty and staff do every day to provide a high quality and low cost education for our students,” UMPI Interim President Ray Rice said.
“As a campus, we are delighted especially to have made a significant move up 13 spots on the Best Regional Colleges in the North list, and I believe that is an indication of the major efforts that have been underway here for the last three years to provide our students with a very personalized educational experience while ensuring affordability.”
In its Best Regional Colleges in the North ranking, UMPI was listed as 27th, moving up 13 spots and 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 15th 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 2015 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 7th, and was the fifth 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.
