Personal finance digital platform Money recognized Loras College as one of America’s Best Colleges in its ninth annual Money’s Best Colleges list.
New this year is a complete overhaul of how the list is presented; instead of a numerical ranking, Money’s Best Colleges presents itself in a 2.5 to 5-star rating. The new rating system is based on the philosophy that there is not one, singular best college for every student. Instead, there’s a variety of outstanding, high-value colleges across the country.
“Loras is again proud of being a part of Money Magazine’s prestigious recognition related to college affordability and academic quality,” President Jim Collins (’84) said. “I applaud the magazine’s efforts to modify its methodology to better reflect the complexity of considerations prospective families should consider when selecting a college. Loras is humbled to secure its four-star rating.”
With a focus on above-average graduation rates, Money scored 736 colleges in three areas: quality, affordability, and future earning potential. These data points take into account important factors like the net price of a degree, loan repayment rates, median earnings and four “value add” calculations measuring a school’s actual performance against its predicted performance based on its student body.
More than 50,000 students enroll at an Iowa private college. As such, twenty-five percent of all Iowa higher education students are enrolled in the state’s private colleges. However, Iowa private colleges confer 48 percent of all undergraduate degrees, 45 percent of all professional degrees and 34 percent of all graduate degrees that are awarded in Iowa each year.
According to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, 57 percent of private four-year college graduates earned their degree in four years, compared to 42 percent at a state four-year institution.
