September 12, 2019

Thomas Aquinas College rises to 35 on U.S. News 2020 Best Colleges List

REGIONAL
Staff report

Pictured are some of the buildings on the campus of Thomas Aquinas College in Northfield. (IObserve photo/courtesy of Thomas Aquinas College)

SANTA PAULA, Calif., and NORTHFIELD, Mass. – Thomas Aquinas College has climbed eight spots in the annual U.S. News and World Report college rankings, from No. 43 to No. 35 among the country’s national liberal arts colleges.

The college is one of only two Catholic institutions in the United States to make the top 50.

The newly released 2020 edition of the magazine’s Best Colleges guide also lists Thomas Aquinas College at No. 51 on a select list of 103 schools with the Best Undergraduate Teaching. The college ranks at the very top of the guide’s list for the highest proportion of classes under 20 students (100 percent) and the lowest proportion of classes with more than 50 students (0 percent). 

Additionally, like Kiplinger and CNBC before it, U.S. News rates Thomas Aquinas College among the very best in the United States for its commitment to affordability. Owing to its low tuition rate and robust financial aid program, the college ranks No. 31 out of the magazine’s 103 “Best Value” liberal arts schools, the only Catholic college to make the top 50. Describing the import of this ranking, U.S. News says, “The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better deal.” It adds, “Only schools ranked in or near the top half of their categories are included because U.S. News considers the most significant values to be among colleges that are above average academically.”

The guide also lists Thomas Aquinas College as No. 14 on its list of Top Performers on Social Mobility – schools that are “more successful than others at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students.”

Pictured is Kenarden Hall on the campus of Thomas Aquinas College in Northfield. (IObserve photo/courtesy of Thomas Aquinas College)

“It has been the commitment of Thomas Aquinas College, ever since its founding, to provide an education that is both excellent and affordable for all who are willing and able to pursue it,” said admissions director Jon Daly. “Our continuing rise in secular guides, in terms of quality and value, are signs that we are staying true to this commitment, just as continued praise from Catholic sources, such as the Newman Guide and the National Catholic Register, reflect that we remain as faithful as ever to the teachings of the Catholic Church.”

In assembling its annual guide, U.S. News evaluates more than 1,800 four-year colleges and universities in the United States. “The rankings,” its editors explain, “are based on factors that indicate academic quality, such as graduation rates and faculty resources.”

A four-year, co-educational institution, Thomas Aquinas College has developed over the past 48 years a solid reputation for academic excellence in the United States and abroad. The college offers one, four-year, classical curriculum that spans the major arts and sciences. The academic life of the college is conducted under the light of the Catholic faith and flourishes within a close-knit community, supported by a vibrant spiritual life. Graduates consistently excel in the many world-class institutions at which they pursue graduate degrees in fields such as law, medicine, business, theology and education. They have distinguished themselves serving as lawyers, doctors, business owners, priests, military service men and women, educators, journalists and college presidents. The College opened a second campus in Northfield, Mass., on Aug. 24,  2019. For additional information, visit www.thomasaquinas.edu.