Loras College is a Top-Five Bachelor’s College in the United States according to Washington Monthly’s 2021 College Rankings released on August 30.
Loras made a significant jump from the 2020 rankings when it was listed as the 19th-best. It is the highest-ranked college in Iowa in that category.
The Bachelor’s College category ranks liberal arts colleges—four-year institutions that award almost exclusively bachelor’s degrees and focus on arts and sciences rather than professional programs—based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility, research, and promoting public service.
In addition to the top-five ranking among bachelor’s colleges, Loras also landed in the top 20 for Best Bang for the Buck Colleges, which ranks college and universities according to how well they help non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices. The list is created by isolating the social mobility metrics from the leading rankings of four-year institutions. Loras ranked 20th on that list among institutions in the Midwest.
The Washington Monthly is a nonprofit devoted to ahead-of-the-curve coverage of politics, government, and public affairs. Its College Guide and Rankings, first published in 2005, has helped upend the conventional wisdom about what constitutes quality in higher education and was the 2013 recipient of the Education Writers Association Award for data journalism.
