Averett University has again reached its highest ranking yet, now named the no. 13 best regional liberal arts college in the South by U.S. News & World Report, climbing from last year’s ranking at no. 17. In addition, Averett climbed in other rankings, being named the sixth best regional college in the South for veterans in 2019 (up from seventh last year), as well as the fourth-ranking Southern regional college for best value (up from ninth in 2018).

Only three Virginia schools made the “2019 Regional Liberal Arts Colleges” list, with Averett retaining its position as the highest ranking Virginia regional college from the complete list of 64 schools in the South. It is also the only Virginia school to appear on this year’s “Schools with the Most International Students” list, which highlights schools with the largest numbers of international undergraduates from the 2017-2018 academic year. Averett’s undergraduate population contains 57 international students from 20 foreign countries.

“Our rankings continue to climb each year in this esteemed list, thanks in large part to our sharp focus on enrollment, retention and student success, all of which contribute to the growth in our university and therefore in our rankings,” said Averett President Dr. Tiffany M. Franks. “These accolades further solidify that our strategic initiatives are moving the university in the right direction.”

“These accolades further solidify that our strategic initiatives are moving the university in the right direction.”

The rankings formula uses exclusively statistical quantitative and qualitative measures that education experts have proposed as reliable indicators of academic quality. To calculate the overall rank for each school within each category, up to 16 metrics of academic excellence are assigned weights that reflect U.S. News’ researched judgment about how much they matter.

U.S. News has produced the Best Colleges for Veterans rankings to provide military veterans and active-duty service members with data on which top-ranked schools offer benefits that can help them make pursuing a college education more affordable. Schools are selected for enrolling veterans or active service members and their participation in the GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon Program. For the “Best Value Schools” list, the calculation takes into account a school’s academic quality based on its U.S. News Best Colleges ranking, its 2017-18 net cost, the percentage of undergraduate students receiving need-based grants and its discount rate.

The rankings are freely available at http://www.usnews.com/best-colleges.