MONEY® magazine this week reaffirmed what Georgian Court University already knew—there’s added value in the education and experiences students receive at the 2,300-student Catholic institution.
GCU is #25 among the Top 50 Colleges That Add the Most Value, according to the latest ranking from MONEY® magazine. That places GCU’s value-added experience in the top 2 percent of more than 1,500 four-year colleges and universities nationwide. Georgian Court (#412) also made the publication’s list of the nation’s 736 best colleges.
“Too often colleges and universities are assessed on the quality of their inputs or the size of their endowments,” said Joseph R. Marbach, Ph.D., president of Georgian Court University, “but the real measure of a college’s value is the success of the students it educates, particularly when those students are provided the support and mentoring to succeed beyond expectations.”
Catholic higher education and liberal arts-focused schools like GCU make a difference, especially for students who face significant financial and academic challenges before they even get to college. At GCU, about 43 percent of freshmen last year were eligible for federal Pell grant funding, offered to families with low incomes.
“At GCU, we are especially proud of what our alumni accomplish when they graduate and we recognize that their achievements in fields like education, social work, public service and other fields may not be reflected in a paycheck, but we know their contributions reflect the Mercy values that set GCU apart,” said Dr. Marbach.
“Our faculty and staff work very hard to position all students—regardless of their academic or financial challenges—for success,” he said, noting the influence of an integrated academic and student life focus that includes joint faculty-student research, small classes, and personalized advising at GCU. “Those interactions add up and create even more value for their college experience. To get an ‘A’ from MONEY® reaffirms that.”
Georgian Court also fared well in 2014, when the university made MONEY® magazine’s overall “Best Colleges” list and Washington Monthly magazine’s list of “Best Bang for the Buck” graduate programs. In early 2015, GCU took high marks on the U.S. Department of Education’s financial responsibility test.
