Money Gives Augustana Top Marks for Quality, Affordability, Outcomes

Money has ranked Augustana No. 168 among 711 colleges and universities nationwide for its education quality, affordability and outcomes.

The ranking is included in Money's 2017 Best Colleges report.

"We estimate a college’s 'value-add' by calculating its performance on important measures such as graduation rates, student loan repayment and default rates, and post-graduation earnings, after adjusting for the types of students it admits," the report said. "We believe this analysis gives students and parents a much better indication of which colleges will provide real value for their tuition dollars."

The report analyzed three key areas: 

Quality of Education — a review of graduation rates, instructor quality and institutional financial standing.

At Augustana: 

• 86 percent of graduates earn their degrees in four years.
• 97 percent of recent grads strongly agreed or agreed that they had at least one professor who made them excited about learning.
• The endowment stands at $74 million — up from $47 million a decade ago. As a result, Augustana is able to award scholarships and financial aid to 100 percent of its full-time students.

Affordability — a review of the institution's net price, graduate debt and social mobility efforts for low-income students.

At Augustana: 

• The average price for members of the AU Class of 2020 was $14,506 after gift aid.
• 2015 AU graduates with federal loans carried average indebtedness of $25,700. According to the Project on Student Debt, that compared to an average indebtedness of $26,023 for South Dakota and $28,950 nationally.
• In 2016, Washington Monthly ranked Augustana the No. 13 baccalaureate college in the nation for its contribution to the public good in research, service and social mobility — lauding its efforts to recruit and graduate low-income students. In 2015, Money recognized Augustana among the top 25 private colleges nationwide who offer the largest merit scholarships to the greatest percentage of students. 

Outcomes — a review of job placement and earnings for recent graduates.

At Augustana: 

• 98 percent of recent grads are employed in a position related to their major or chosen field.
• 99 percent engaged in internships, clinical work, research, study abroad, volunteerism or student teaching during their college careers.
• The mean salary reported for 2016 grads was $43,471. The maximum salary reported was $67,000.

View other national rankings for Augustana University.

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