September 13, 2021

Susquehanna University ranks No. 117 out of the 223 universities included on U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 National Liberal Arts Colleges list.

Susquehanna continues to excel in U.S. News’ social mobility category, ranking No. 80 out of 216 universities. The social mobility ranking measures the extent schools enrolled and graduated students who received federal Pell Grants (those typically coming from households whose family incomes are less than $50,000 annually).

Susquehanna was recently featured in a Chronicle of Higher Education article for raising enrollments of students from low-income households – one of only a few universities nationwide that delivered on the American Talent Initiative’s effort to enroll, by 2025, an additional 50,000 students from low-income households at colleges with high graduation rates.

Susquehanna was also included in the A+ Schools for B Students ranking, which considers the university’s overall performance in the 2022 edition of the Best Colleges rankings and the average first-year student retention rate. To appear on the A+ Schools for B Students list, colleges had to:

  • Be ranked in the top three-fourths of the overall 2022 Best Colleges rankings in their categories.
  • Bring an average of at least 75% of their first-year students back the next fall. This first-year student retention rate value can be an important indicator of student satisfaction. Susquehanna’s first-year student retention rate was calculated at 87%.

U.S. News measured academic quality using 17 metrics, with the most weight placed on outcomes, including not only the ability of a college to retain and graduate its students from different socioeconomic backgrounds but also their graduates’ average indebtedness. Class size, undergraduate academic reputation and how much colleges invest in instruction and student services are among the other data points U.S. News collected to develop the latest set of rankings.

View Susquehanna’s full profile here. A full methodology can be found here.