Monday, August 08, 2011

MACON, Ga. (Aug. 8, 2011) – A week after being named one of the top colleges in the Southeast by the Princeton Review, East Tennessee State University received recognition in Forbes Magazine. On Monday, ETSU joined five other Atlantic Sun Conference institutions in Forbes’ annual ranking of the nation’s best undergraduate institutions.

Belmont University, Kennesaw State University, Mercer University, the University of North Florida, and Stetson University were the other A-Sun schools to appear on the list of America’s top 650 institutions. Currently, there are approximately 6,600 higher education institutions throughout the United States, placing the six schools within the country’s top-10 percent.

The conference consistently turns out some of the finest student-athletes regionally and nationally. Nearly 64 percent of the student-athletes in the A-Sun posted a grade point average of 3.0 or better last year.

The rankings are based on five general categories: Post-Graduate success (30%), which evaluates alumni pay and prominence, Student Satisfaction (27.5%), which includes professor evaluations and freshman to sophomore year retention rates, Debt (17.5%), which penalizes schools for high student debt loads and default rates, Four-Year Graduation Rate (17.5%) and Competitive Awards (7.5%), which rewards schools whose students win prestigious scholarships and fellowships like the Rhodes, the Marshall, and the Fulbright. In addition to the overall rankings, the Center for College Affordability and Productivity also prepares a “value” ranking which takes into account the overall cost of each school as relative to the quality of the education provided.

The Atlantic Sun Conference is an NCAA Division I league with 10 member institutions committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun meets the challenge of maintaining the highest standards in academic and athletic achievement with a true balance between student and athlete. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.