seasons

SAMFORD REPORT
The Economist Ranks Samford in the
TOP 100 NATIONALLY
Samford University is ranked 87th and in the 93rd
percentile nationally, according to a new national ranking
released by The Economist.
Samford is the top-ranked higher education institution in
Alabama. There were 1,275 institutions nationally included in the
ranking.
According to The Economist’s website, these first-ever college
rankings are based on “a simple, if debatable, premise: the economic
value of a university is equal to the gap between how much money
its graduates earn, and how much they might have made had they
studied elsewhere.”
The rankings also parallel some of the criteria for the new college
scorecard being used by the U.S. Department of Education with
additional criteria used by The Economist. Based on these criteria,
the median income for recent Samford graduates — $45,500
— actually exceeds the projected earnings by $5,390.
“While rankings are only one criteria by which a university is
measured, we are pleased that a prestigious organization such as The
Economist has ranked Samford University so highly,” said Betsy
Bugg Holloway, Samford’s chief marketing officer. “It affirms the
increasing value of a Samford education and the potential for our
graduates in the global marketplace.”
A total of 23 Alabama public and private institutions were
ranked. Samford also was the highest ranked of the 10 Southern
Conference–member institutions.
Holloway noted that The Economist’s rankings continue a trend of
high rankings for Samford’s academic programs and value from such
organizations as U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, The Princeton
Review and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.
samford.edu • 3
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12/4/15 11:12 AM