Alumni Giving Helps Propel Benedictine in College Rankings Probably the best-known national college and university ranking is “America’s Best Colleges� by U.S. News & World Report. The magazine has FRPSLOHG WKH GDWD VLQFH DQG KDV HVWDEOLVKHG the rankings in the minds of parents and prospective college students as a key comparative resource. Benedictine College has been named as one of “America’s Best Colleges� for the last two years and, though they may not realize it, the school’s alumni have helped put the college in the top tier of Midwest Master’s institutions. U.S. News establishes its rankings based on a set of factors. These include a peer assessment score, retention and graduation rates, student selectivity, average class size, faculty salary, faculty degree level, student-faculty ratio, financial resources, and alumni giving. The magazine measures the percentage of living alumni with bachelor’s degrees who gave to the school during the previous two years. U.S. News gives this a weight of five percent of the school’s total score and considers it an indirect measure of student satisfaction. “Donations from our alumni mean more to the college than just building the endowment or providing operating or capital construction funds,� said Kelly Vowels, vice president of advancement at Benedictine College. “It impacts our reputation. We have worked hard to get into the national consciousness and it is important for alumni to realize that when they are considering their charitable contributions each year.� Benedictine reflects well in the average alumni giving rate at 24 percent this year. That is in the WRS SHUFHQW RI FROOHJHV ZLWKLQ WKHLU UDQNLQJ 7KH perennial top colleges, Creighton University, Xavier University, and Valparaiso University, have alumni JLYLQJ UDWHV RI EHWZHHQ SHUFHQW DQG SHUFHQW Bedrace Champions, Ferrell Hall, crossing the finish line during Homecoming Festivities. photo by Amanda Davis, student worker
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