"Centre is proud to be an institution where high achievement is prized and high opportunity for young men and women needing financial assistance to attend has been preserved," Roush said.
Centre's No. 13 spot is the highest ranking of a Kentucky institution, with the closest-ranked school appearing at No. 83 on the overall list.
Seven million student evaluations
In coming up with its rankings, Forbes' methodology included rankings from more than seven million student evaluations. Forbes also looked at how many of the school's alumni, adjusted for the size of the school, are listed among notables in Who's Who in America, and it also looked at ratings on the Web site Ratemyprofessor.com.
A large percentage of Forbes' methodology included such facts as debt level at graduation, percentage of students graduating in four years and the number of students or faculty who have won nationally competitive awards like Rhodes Scholarships.
According to the Forbes article, Centre was in the top 10 percent of schools in all of the above selection criteria.
Forbes published an answer from a Centre student in response to the question, "What is the best reason for a prospective student to choose your school?" The following answer came from Centre student Josh Stevens:
"It's the community. We say it's 'personal education/extraordinary success'- that's the tagline - but it's the personal education part that is why a prospective student should look here. You have small classes with faculty who are always wanting to help you out as much as they can. They want you to excel at your interest, so they're willing to help you further your educational plans."
Forbes' high ranking is one of many Centre has received. Consumers Digest named Centre the No. 1 educational value in the nation, and U.S. News consistently ranks Centre among the top-50 schools in the nation (and Centre is the only Kentucky institution in this U.S. News top-50 ranking).
In addition, Centre recently was named an outstanding educational institution by The Princeton Review and is the only Kentucky institution to be named a top-30 value among liberal arts colleges by Kiplinger magazine.
