`Westminster touts U.S. News ranking`

Westminster College ranked fourth among the country’s liberal arts colleges and in the top 10 of all colleges in graduation rate performance, according to a recent national study.

U.S. News & World Report’s “2000 Guide to America’s Best Colleges” named Westminster one of the nation’s best in enhancing the educational achievement of its students.

The indicator, developed by U.S. News and previously called “value added,” is designed to capture the effect of college programs and policies on the graduation rate of its students.

U.S. News arrived at the score by measuring the difference between a school’s six-year graduation rate for the class that entered in 1992, and the predicted graduation rate for the class.

The predicted graduation rate is calculated using a formula accounting for standardized test scores of these students and the school’s expenditures on them over the years.

If the actual graduation rate is higher than the predicted rate, the college is believed to be enhancing the students’ achievement.

Westminster’s 75 percent graduation rate was 15 percent higher than predicted. Only three other colleges ranked higher.

Westminster is included with 161 other national liberal arts colleges based on categories established by Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

National liberal arts colleges must award at least 40 percent of their degrees in liberal arts, and tend to be more selective than those in the regional liberal arts category. Westminster has been called a “best buy in college education” by Money Magazine.

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Updated August 28, 1999
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