TU among top 100 U.S. public colleges
By: Bailey Hendricks, Assistant News Editor
Towson University placed 97th out of 499 four-year public institutions across the country in a report of the top public colleges and universities in America published by Buffalo Business First April 4.
Towson moved up in its rankings since last year, when the school placed 109th.
According to Buffalo Business First project’s editor Scott Thomas, the goal of the report was “to identify the public universities and colleges that offer the best educational experiences to their students.”
Towson has an admissions rate of 73.4 percent, a retention rate of 85.7 percent, and a four-year graduation rate of 44.9 percent, according to the report.
Towson is ranked fourth out of Maryland’s public colleges and universities, and the University of Maryland, College Park is ranked 1st.
“I see how [Towson] earned [a spot in Business First’s national report of the nation’s top 100 public colleges] because they’ve made so many improvements like with all the new buildings and construction, so I can see how that’s definitely pushed us over,” freshman Madelin Hill said. “I also think it’s getting more competitive to get into Towson, like the overall GPA is going up, so I can see how that’s definitely affecting them becoming more elite.”
The University of Michigan was the number one ranked public institution in the national report. The University of Michigan has an admissions rate of 26.3 percent, a retention rate of 97.2 percent, and a four-year graduation rate of 74.8 percent.
Business First’s report is based on 22 factors including selectivity, advancement, costs and diversity. The 499 public institutions all supplied a full set of data to the National Center for Education Statistics and all grant bachelor’s degrees.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Towson University was ranked 12th among Maryland’s public colleges and universities. The ranking actually has Towson listed as fourth. We apologize for this error.