St. Mary’s College of Maryland, the National Public Honors College, is ranked as the fifth best public liberal arts college in the nation for the second year in a row in U.S. News & World Report’s “2021 Best Colleges,” released Monday, Sept. 14.
St. Mary’s College also ranks 80 on the national liberal arts colleges list, public and private (compared to 92 last year). The National Liberal Arts Colleges ranking emphasizes Colleges with undergraduate education and who award at least half of their degrees in the liberal arts fields of study.
St. Mary’s College is also ranked as a best value school. According to U.S. News & World Report, “The calculation used here takes into account a school’s academic quality, as indicated by its 2021 U.S. News Best Colleges ranking, and the 2019-2020 net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid. Only schools ranked in or near the top half of their categories are included because U.S. News considers the most significant values to be among colleges that are above average academically.”
The College is also ranked as one of the top performers on social mobility, a ranking based on the college enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants.
“As the first public liberal arts honors college in the country, St. Mary’s College of Maryland sets the standard for a liberal arts education,” said Tuajuanda C. Jordan, president of St. Mary’s College. “We provide an excellent, affordable education that prepares any student who has the capacity and potential to succeed in an intellectually stimulating environment for global citizenry at the highest level.”
St. Mary’s College was also recently recognized in the 2021 Fiske Guide to Colleges, The Princeton Review’s “Best 386 Colleges” Guide for 2021, named a 2020-21 College of Distinction, and ranked among the “Best Colleges for Your Money” by Money.