As the sole private, liberal arts college in Kansas to be listed on Forbes.com’s Top Colleges list for 2015-16, Bethel College can claim high scores in return on investment (ROI).
Only four Kansas schools made the eighth annual Forbes.com analysis of the 650 top (just under 10 percent of the total) U.S. colleges and universities.
The other three are regents’ universities, and Bethel ranks ahead of Wichita State University – behind the University of Kansas and Kansas State University – in a survey based on “output” over “input.”
“A growing number of colleges and universities are now focusing on student-consumer value over marketing prestige,” writes Caroline Howard of Forbes.com, “making this a new age of return-on-investment education. This pivot is the result of intense public scrutiny on the substantial cost of a degree vs. long tail worth – the very heart of Forbes’ definitive Top Colleges ranking.”
“As higher education comes under ever-increasing scrutiny over affordability and access, we’re gratified to again be recognized by Forbes.com for our exemplary service to students and for the return we provide on their tuition dollars,” said Bethel President Perry D. White.
Forbes.com, with the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP), rates 650 undergraduate programs out of 6,600 accredited U.S. colleges and universities “based on the quality of the education they provide, the experience of the students and how much they achieve.”
Forbes.com’s “recipe for a top college” includes: student satisfaction, which notes positive evaluations for professors and overall campus experience, and high freshman-to-sophomore year retention rates; low student-to-faculty ratio (in 2014-15, Bethel’s was 10:1); financial aid and debt, which looks at above-average financial aid amounts and low percentages of students taking out loans; and four-year graduation rates.
To see the names of all 650 colleges and universities, go to www.forbes.com/top-colleges/list/.
Bethel College is a four-year liberal arts college affiliated with Mennonite Church USA. For more information, see www.bethelks.edu.
