UMFK leaps ahead in U.S. News rankings

5 years ago

FORT KENT, Maine — The University of Maine at Fort Kent has been named among the top tier of all north region colleges for the ninth consecutive year, according to the U.S. News & World Report 2020 rankings.

The latest U.S. News & World Report rankings put UMFK in the top tier, ranked 25th, leaping ahead of nearly 10 other universities since last year.  They also rank UMFK 15th among public colleges in the North which follows nine consecutive years as a top-15 public institution. UMFK first achieved top-tier college status in U.S. News & World Report’s 2011 rankings. UMFK is also ranked as number 13 among the regional colleges as a top performer in social mobility. That means UMFK has great success in helping economically disadvantaged students graduate on time.

“A jump like this in the U.S. News & World Report rankings is not typical,” according to Dr. Tex Boggs, UMFK’s interim president.  

“We are proud that our hard work is being noted within these rankings, especially our initiatives to make our institution more affordable to low-income students,” he added. “This U.S. News ranking demonstrates that we are being successful in moving toward our goals.”

U.S. News & World Report bases the U.S. ranking on key measures that education experts have proposed as reliable indicators of academic quality.  The indices include peer assessment; graduation and retention rates; faculty resources; student selectivity; financial resources; and alumni giving.

The U.S. News rating system rests on two pillars. The formula relies on quantitative measures that education experts have proposed as reliable indicators of academic quality, and are based on U.S. News’ researched view of what matters in education.

The North region includes the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

For prospective students and their families, the 2018 U.S. News rankings provide an excellent starting point to help identify colleges and universities that are right for them, because they offer the opportunity to judge the relative quality of institutions based on widely-accepted indicators of excellence.

Enrollment continues to escalate at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. Thanks to an institution-wide emphasis on student success, as well as initiatives to reduce student debt, UMFK is reporting enrollment numbers that stands at nearly 1,400 and climbing.

Submitted by the Marketing and Communication Office of the University of Maine at Fort Kent.