Earlier today, U.S. News & World Report released their 2021 Best Colleges rankings, which includes Coker University as one of America’s Best Regional Universities (South). This is the 25th consecutive year Coker has been included in U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges rankings.
The University was also recognized in Social Mobility in Regional Universities (South), a separate 2021 U.S. News & World Report ranking. The publication’s social mobility rankings are computed from factors assessing graduation rates of federal Pell Grant-awarded students.
“Being recognized for our students’ achievements is a testament to the good work of everyone here and it recommits us to ensuring our students persist to graduation and are successful after they leave us,” says Dr. Natalie Harder, President of Coker University.
U.S. News & World Report defines a regional university as a school that offers a broad scope of undergraduate degrees and some master's degree programs but few, if any, doctoral programs. The regional university rankings are split into four geographical regions/ lists (North, South, Midwest and West) and two categories/ lists (regional universities and regional colleges). The regional south lists include institutions from 12 states–Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
New this year, U.S. News & World Report made changes to the overall ranking methodology, including the introduction of two outcome measures pertaining to graduate indebtedness, for a total of 17 factors. To make room, the publication gave less weight in the rankings to SAT/ACT scores, high school class standing and alumni giving rates. For more information about how U.S. News & World Report calculated their 2021 Best Colleges rankings, please click here.
For more information about Coker University, formerly Coker College, please visit coker.edu. For more information about applying to Coker, please visit coker.edu/apply.
For more information about the U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 rankings, please visit https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges. For more information about U.S. News & World Report’s best regional colleges in the south, please visit https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-universities-south.
