By Jenelle (Bayus) Sanders
U.S. News & World Report recently unveiled its 2023 college and university rankings, and Hiram College is again among the best regional colleges in multiple categories.
The College was ranked thirteenth among Midwest Regional Colleges and was one of only sixteen institutions in Ohio to rank in this category. This ranking is also an increase from the College’s spot at number fifteen in the 2022 rankings. In addition to Ohio, the Midwest Regional category includes institutions from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Additionally, Hiram ranked third for Best Value among regional colleges in the Midwest. This category looks at both academic quality and the cost of education, taking the percentage of undergraduates that receive need-based aid and the total scholarship/need-based aid received by students.
Hiram College was also ranked as a Top Performer on Social Mobility, landing tenth among regional colleges in the Midwest. Introduced by U.S. News & World Report in 2020, this ranking measures how well institutions graduate students who receive federal Pell Grants. Last year, Hiram ranked twelfth in this category.
Finally, Hiram landed a spot on the Best Undergraduate Teaching list, ranking sixth among regional colleges in the Midwest, and is the only college from Ohio to be ranked in this category. The rankings for Best Undergraduate Teaching focus on schools whose faculty and administrators are committed to teaching students in a high-quality manner. Schools are nominated for this distinction by college presidents, provosts, admission deans, and others through peer assessment.
In response to the rankings, Hiram College President David Haney stated, “We are pleased that the highly publicized U.S. News rankings recognize Hiram again as one of the best colleges in the Midwest. I am particularly proud that we are recognized for three things that really matter to us: we are a great value for parents and students, a college that provides an avenue for social mobility to low-income students, and a community of teachers who care about students and educate them in expert, creative, and experiential ways.”
The annual U.S. News & World Report rankings are based on numerous factors, including campus life, financial aid, the first-year retention rate of students, quality of the faculty, range of academic programs, and graduation rate.
Along with being named in U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 listing, Hiram was recognized for excellence in higher education earlier this summer, earning a place as one of the nation’s 2022-2023 Colleges of Distinction and Ohio Colleges of Distinction, and named to Phi Theta Kappa’s Honor Society in recognition of the dynamic pathways created to support transfer students.
