For immediate release: Sept. 12, 2012

BLOOMSBURG — Bloomsburg University is once again listed as one of the best universities in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking of U.S. colleges and universities.

In data released this week, U.S. News lists BU as number 104 of the Best Regional Universities for the northern region, tied with Buffalo State College – SUNY, Touro College of New York and William Paterson University of New Jersey. Additionally, Bloomsburg is fifth among institutions in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE).

Best Regional Universities ranks institutions that offer a full range of undergraduate degrees and some master’s degree programs but few, if any, doctoral degrees.

BU’s 81 percent retention rate (percentage of freshmen who return to school) is higher than the retention rate at several colleges that earned higher overall ratings, including Shippensburg University, Hood College, St. Bonaventure University, King’s College and Wilkes University, and matches several universities that earned higher overall ratings, such as Millersville, Slippery Rock, Rutgers and La Salle. Bloomsburg’s graduation rate of 63 percent is higher than Rutgers, ranked number 20 in the listing; Montclair State University, 61; Millersville, 86; Slippery Rock, 91; and Shippensburg, 100.

With 93 percent full-time faculty, BU matches two PASSHE universities – East Stroudsburg and Edinboro – and is surpassed by just five institutions in the northern region: Gallaudet, Notre Dame of Maryland, Slippery Rock, Kutztown and Lock Haven.

Six hundred twenty-five universities are included in the Best Regional Universities rankings. Details on the rankings will be published in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges guidebook, available Sept. 18.

Bloomsburg University is one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. BU serves approximately 10,000 students, offering comprehensive programs of study in the colleges of Education, Business, Liberal Arts and Science and Technology.