WESTFIELD – For the first time, Westfield State University has been named as one of the top 50 “Best Colleges for Veterans” as reported in the latest US News & World Report 2015 “Best Colleges” edition. Westfield State was the only Massachusetts state university to make the “Best Colleges for Veterans” list and continues its trend to lead the Massachusetts state university system in the annual overall rankings for Regional Universities-North.
“Being identified as one of the ‘Best Colleges for Veterans’ is a tremendous point of pride for Westfield State. We are deeply committed to serving our country’s veterans, and have prioritized providing the support services, academic programming, plus access to a range of federal benefits to address the unique needs of service members and to make earning a degree more manageable and more affordable,” said Elizabeth H. Preston, president, Westfield State University.
Westfield State has a demonstrated track record in education programming for service members. Last year, the university was named a “Top Military Friendly School” by both G.I. Jobs and Military Advanced Education Magazine, and was ranked as one of the top business schools for veterans in the first-ever national survey of business schools by The Military Times. Westfield State currently has nearly 300 veterans representing four percent of the student body on campus.
The “Best Colleges for Veterans” Web-exclusive rankings include numerically ranked schools in the 2015 edition of the U.S. and World Report’s “Best Colleges” that meet each of the following criteria: the institution is a member of the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) Consortium; the institution is certified for the GI Bill; and the institution participates in the Yellow Ribbon Program or is a public institution that charges in-state tuition, which can be fully covered by the GI Bill, to all veterans applying from out of state.
Westfield State officially ranked 115 in the top tier of the “Best Regional Universities – North” up from 123 last year. The overall rankings of Regional Universities, which offer an array of undergraduate and graduate degrees but few doctoral programs, are split amongst four quadrants of the country – North, South, Midwest, and West, respectively. Only the top tier of each category is ranked. The 620 universities in this category are not ranked nationally but rather against their peer group in one of four geographic regions because, in general, they tend to draw students most heavily from surrounding states. Westfield State has steadily climbed in the annual college rankings, notably jumping a full tier in 2009.
Rankings were determined by a number of factors including peer assessment, assessment of excellence, retention and graduation rates, graduation rate performance, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, and alumni giving.
The exclusive rankings are available at www.usnews.com/colleges and through the U.S. News College Compass.
They will also be published in U.S. News & World Report’s 2015 edition of “Best Colleges,” available on newsstands today.
Earlier this year, Westfield State led Massachusetts’ universities placing in the top 15 percent out of 205 schools and is the only Massachusetts school public or private in the top 50 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 “Best Online Education Programs” rankings. Westfield State’s official ranking was 31 out of 205 in the Online Education Bachelor’s Programs category based on new research and methodology conducted by U.S. News & World Report. Westfield State offers six online bachelor’s degree completion programs in business management, criminal justice, history, liberal studies, psychology, and sociology.
