Marietta selected No. 2 in Best Value Schools in U.S. News regional rankings
College moves up two spots in Best Midwest Regional Colleges
Marietta, Ohio (09/13/2021) — Marietta College was recognized among the best in three different regional categories, including No. 2 in Best Value School, which was published today by the U.S. News & World Report Best College Rankings.
Marietta also ranked sixth - up two spots from last year - in the Best Midwest Regional Colleges in the 2022 U.S. News & World Report survey, released today.
Marietta is tied with Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. Each institution has an overall score of 88, which is a two-point increase from last year for Marietta. The College also ranks No. 11 for Top Performers on Social Mobility in the Midwest Region.
"The U.S. News & World Report rankings continue to reveal our clear intent to offer a first-class education for our students, while also celebrating our commitment to offering an education at a cost that is affordable," said President Bill Ruud. "What these rankings do is reaffirm what we already know about Marietta College - that our faculty and staff provide an educational experience for our students that is of the highest quality, and we do that at a price that is affordable while preparing our students to succeed in their careers."
To determine which colleges and universities offer the best value for students, U.S. News considers both academic quality and cost. The rankings assess a school's academic quality, as indicated by its 2022 U.S. News & World Report ranking, and the 2020-2021 net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid. The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal. Only schools ranked in or near the top half of their categories are included because U.S. News considered the most significant values to be among colleges that are above average academically.
Overall, there were 76 colleges included in the Midwest rankings. When compared to other regional rankings, Marietta's overall score would put it No. 3 in both the North and South and No. 5 in the West.
If you combined all the regions together, which ranks 274 colleges and universities, Marietta would be tied for 14th overall.
The rankings help prospective students and their families obtain a glimpse of the relative quality of each college and university. That quality is based on 17 indicators of academic excellence, according to U.S. News & World Report's ranking explanation. Those indicators include first-year student retention numbers, graduation rates and faculty resources, among other metrics. Each of those factors is weighted, and then the college is ranked against peer institutions based on the composite weighted score.
Three areas Marietta excels in are the Percent of Classes under 20 students (83 percent), Average Alumni Giving Rate (17 percent) and Student-to-Faculty ratio (8 to 1).
The top five institutions in the Midwest include College of the Ozarks (Point Lookout, Missouri), Taylor University (Upland, Indiana), Ohio Northern University (Ada, Ohio), Cottey College (Nevada, Missouri), and Dordt University (Sioux Center, Iowa).
Located in Marietta, Ohio, at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers, Marietta College is a four-year liberal arts college. Tracing its roots to the Muskingum Academy back in 1797, the College was officially chartered in 1835. Today Marietta College serves a body of 1,200 full-time students. The College offers more than 50 majors and is consistently ranked as one of the top regional comprehensive colleges by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, as well as one of the nation's best by Forbes.com. Marietta was selected seventh in the nation according to the Brookings Institution's rankings of colleges by their highest value added, regardless of major.
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