Lyon College has been named a 2021 “Best College” by U.S. News & World Report. 

Lyon ranked #166 overall in National Liberal Arts Colleges and continued its streak as a top performer in social mobility, ranking #45. Though the College has made the list of top national liberal arts colleges for many years, it broke into the numbered rankings for the first time since 2014. 

“We are proud to be among the ranked again, and we expect this positive trajectory to continue in the coming years,” said President W. Joseph King. 

U.S. News & World Report considers several aspects when determining colleges’ rankings. For the list of top national liberal arts colleges, U.S. News reviews indicators such as student-faculty ratio, average federal loan debt for graduates, and undergraduate academic reputation.

For the social mobility ranking, U.S. News considers colleges that are successful at “enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants.”

Lyon has ranked as a top performer in social mobility the past five years. In fall 2019, which would be the academic year U.S. News reviewed for this ranking, almost half of Lyon’s students received a Pell Grant, and over 40 percent of its first-year students were the first in their families to attend college.

President King added, “Our rank in the top 50 in terms of social mobility illustrates our deep commitment to the mission and purpose of Lyon College.”

He concluded, “As we continue to improve our national public profile and sustain our selectivity, I am confident that the rankings will reflect it.”