'Berg highly ranked by U.S. News x3

Heidelberg University is again highly ranked among the top colleges and universities in two categories in U.S. News & World Report’s annual national survey. In the rankings released today, Heidelberg is listed No. 18 in the top tier among best regional colleges in the Midwest and No. 7 on the list of “best value” schools regionally. Placement on the “best value” list confirms that Heidelberg provides a high-quality education at an affordable price. The list considers the percentage of need-based financial aid and the average cost after financial aid is awarded.

Heidelberg also is listed as a “top performer” on U.S. News’s Social Mobility list, coming in at No. 12 in the Midwest Regional Colleges category. Social Mobility measures how well schools graduate students who receive federal Pell Grants. 

University officials say both the “best colleges” and “best value” rankings underscore the fact that Heidelberg’s 170-year tradition of excellence in higher education is strong – and rising.

“Our faculty and staff are united around one purpose:  to provide all of our students with opportunities and advantages to shape who they are and who they will become, both personally and professionally,” said President Rob Huntington. “We are passionately focused on our students to ensure their excellent education, full engagement, total success, four-year graduation and preferred placement.” 

Part of Heidelberg’s mission, Rob added, is to stay relevant in the marketplace. Because markets, jobs and the economy evolve all the time, Heidelberg has worked hard to ensure that students have the right skills and experiences to succeed in their chosen path. In the past 18 months, the university has added the following new academic programs to meet student demand:

• A Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program
• A Video Game Production major and renovations to create the new Gaming, eSports and Media Center as its home
• A Watershed Science specialization in the Environmental Science and Sustainability major
• An Insurance/Risk Management track within the School of Business & Technology’s business administration major
• An Exercise Science major and accompanying new experiential learning lab.

Heidelberg also offers a combination of programs – such as the Four-Year Graduation Guarantee, the HYPE Career Ready® Program and the PlusOneAdvantage® MBA Tuition-Free Scholarship Program – to set the university apart and give students big opportunities and life advantages to prepare for successful careers and great lives.

“By preparing all students to lead a thoughtful life of purpose with distinction, we fulfill our Core Student Mission and continue to advance Heidelberg in amazing ways for our students going forward,” Rob said.

Tom Alexander, director of admission at Heidelberg, said the U.S. News rankings are among the multiple tools that families can utilize as they consider such criteria as cost, financial aid, curriculum, feel of campus life and geographic location – all important factors in the college search process. The rankings, combined with college visits and other intuitive factors, are helpful in determining a student’s best-fit college, he said.

The U.S. News 2020 America’s Best Colleges report uses a set of weighted criteria, including outcomes (graduation and retention rates, social mobility, graduation rate performance), faculty resources, expert opinion, financial resources, student excellence and alumni giving, in ranking colleges and universities. The survey provides a thorough examination of how accredited four-year colleges and universities stack up on a series of 15 diverse measures of academic quality. The colleges and universities in the “Regional Colleges” category are ranked within four geographic regions and then divided into tiers.