ALLEGANY, N.Y. – There was mixed news for St. Bonaventure University in rankings of U.S. colleges and universities.
In the U.S. News & World Report‘s annual rating of colleges and universities in the U.S., St. Bonaventure placed 12th in the “Great Schools, Great Prices” ranking for master’s-level universities and colleges in the North. The university also finished in the top 20 percent overall of the best northern regional universities, ranking 31st out of the 165 colleges and universities in the region.
The “Great Schools, Great Prices” ranking relates a school’s academic quality to the cost of attendance for a student receiving the average level of need-based financial aid. More than 70 percent of Bonaventure students received need-based aid in 2005, discounting a student’s total cost to attend the University by almost 40 percent.
“These rankings again reinforce the value of a degree from St. Bonaventure,” said university president Sister Margaret Carney, OSF. “With all the exciting new construction projects going on here, from the spectacular renovation of Hickey Dining Hall that will greet returning students next week to the ongoing work on our new science center, I’m certain we’re on the path to becoming an even greater value.”
On the downside, the Princeton Review (which is not associated with Princeton University) surveyed 115,000 college students across the country to come up with its “Best Party Schools” list, and St. Bonaventure was ranked number 8 for schools where hard liquor is prevalent, and number 17 for beer consumption.
The top-three “Party” schools, ranked for their student body consumption of hard liquor, beer and marijuana, are University of Texas at Austin, Penn State and West Virginia University.
At the other end of the scale, Brigham Young University, Wheaton College and College of the Ozarks top the list of “stone cold sober” schools.