Ranked by travel website
DANVILLE, Ky. (Feb. 14, 2017) — Travel website America Unraveled has ranked Centre College sixth on its inaugural list of Top Ten Small Colleges in the U.S.
Evaluations took into consideration student population of under 3,000 attendees, percentage acceptance, the total cost per year, average student debt upon graduation, average student salary upon graduation and the school’s National Liberal Arts Colleges rankings.
Grinnell College in Iowa was at the top of the list.
Centre was lauded for what it guarantees as part of the Centre Commitment: a study abroad experience, an internship or research opportunity, and graduation in four years. An average 85 percent of Centre students study abroad and 82 percent participated in an internship or conducted undergraduate research this past year.
Strong graduation outcomes were also listed as support for the high national ranking. Based on a 96 percent response rate for the Class of 2015, for which Centre has the most recent data, the College’s Center for Career & Professional Development reported that 98 percent of graduates were employed or pursuing advanced study within one year of graduation.
America Unraveled cited Centre’s increasing focus on opportunities for first-generation college students. In all, 74 first-generation students, or 18 percent, are represented in the Class of 2020, including the 10 students who comprise the second class of Grissom Scholars, a new premier scholarship designed specifically for first-generation college students that offers a full-tuition-plus scholarship.
Overall, 15 percent of the entire student body are “first-gens,” as they are often called, increasing from 9 percent two years ago. At Centre, first-gen Class of 2016 graduates achieved an 89 percent graduation rate.
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