Bolstered by the highest percentage of small classes of any Virginia public college or university, Longwood today marked its sixth-straight year being ranked in the top-10 public universities in the South in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings.
With nearly two-thirds of Longwood classes having 20 or fewer students, and nearly all taught by full-time faculty, Lancers have a distinct advantage over peers at larger institutions: access to faculty members who mentor them through research projects, academic exploration, and the signature Civitae Core Curriculum.
I’m particularly proud to see that our hard work investing in full-time faculty and small class sizes where we know students thrive is being recognized.
President W. Taylor Reveley IV Tweet This
The latest ranking—used by millions of high schoolers when making decisions about college—continues a steady rise over the last decade. Since 2013, Longwood has climbed to No. 7 from No. 12 among public institutions in the Southern regional category. Among public and private regional universities, Longwood is again ranked in the top-20.
The biggest climb in the rankings, however, is a major jump on the Best Value in the South list — Longwood leaped a whopping 14 spots to No. 33 overall. The university also moved up the board on the Best Colleges for Veterans list, which was new last year, to No. 6 in the South.
Longwood also appears in a new U.S. News list this year: Best Nursing Schools, which comes on the heels of another outstanding performance on nursing licensure exams by graduating seniors.
“The faculty-student relationship is the center of the academic experience at Longwood, and what makes our university unique,” said President W. Taylor Reveley IV. “That’s why I’m particularly proud to see that our hard work investing in full-time faculty and small class sizes where we know students thrive is being recognized. Rankings can never fully capture the student experience at a university, but they can reflect real investments like those we’ve made over the last decade.”
We think about affordability every day, which is why we have held tuition increases among the very lowest in Virginia these last few years.
President W. Taylor Reveley IV Tweet This
“I’m also very proud that our years-long efforts to keep college costs as affordable as possible—which is the true challenge facing higher education in the future—has been recognized on the Best Value list,” continued Reveley. “We think about affordability every day, which is why we have held tuition increases among the very lowest in Virginia these last few years.”
Longwood continues to invest heavily in full-time, tenure-track faculty—offering students smaller classes taught by professors who are making their careers at the institution. Since 2012, Longwood’s ranks of tenured and tenure-track faculty have increased by more than 40 faculty members, amounting to growth of 25 percent. That comes as universities across the country have scaled back full-time faculty hiring, relying more on adjuncts, graduate assistants and part-time staff to teach classes.
Longwood was also recognized by the Princeton Review as one of the top South Region colleges on its annual list.
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