Rhodes College has made the “Best College Values” rankings for 2018 by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Rhodes is No. 38 on its list of 100 best values in liberal arts colleges and is No. 70 among the 300 colleges ranked overall. The overall list includes public, private, and liberal arts colleges and is based on academic quality as well as cost and financial-aid measures.
“When we crunch the numbers, quality comes first,” according to Kiplinger staff writer Kaitlin Pitsker who explains the college rankings in a feature article. “We start by examining academic measures, including the school’s admission rate, the test scores of incoming freshmen and student-faculty ratios. To reward schools with a record of graduating students on time—sparing families the expense of an extra year—we award points only for four-year graduation rates. On the financial side, we give the most points to schools with affordable sticker prices and ample financial aid.”
Students at Rhodes enjoy a challenging educational environment both inside and outside the classroom. Financial assistance is offered in several forms such as fellowships, scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study. About 80 percent of students participate in service, 75 percent complete internships, and 65 percent study abroad or at off-campus sites in the U.S. Rhodes has appeared on Kiplinger’s “Best College Values” before and moved up from 43 to 38 in the liberal arts category since last year.