Brenau is listed among institutions in the 11-state region that provide both undergraduate and master's degree programs but few, if any doctoral and professional degrees. Only one other Georgia institution, Mercer University in Macon (#5) finished in the top 15 of the magazine's "Great Schools; Great Prices" ranking of relative costs for attending institutions that are above average academically. Some of the institutions in other Southeast states in the top 10 are The Citadel in South Carolina, Stetson University in Florida, Queens College in North Carolina and Loyola University of New Orleans.
The overall rankings are based on assessments by all the university presidents surveyed, graduation rates, average admissions test scores, faculty/student ratio and other criteria. Mercer ranked seventh overall, but with both established law and medical schools could be close to graduating from the "master's" category.
No other Georgia institution showed up on the list until North Georgia College and State University's 50th spot, 12 points from the Brenau's 38th-place spot - occupied by Brenau and Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville. Tied in that spot with Radford University in Virginia, they were flanked at 36th by Loyola and Marshall University in West Virginia, and at 41st by Shenandoah University in Virginia and Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C.
"The thing that validates these rankings is they are determined by our peers at other institutions," said Brenau President Ed Schrader. "When you are ranked by 200 to 300 university college and university presidents, it is a very good reflection of the quality of your programs."
The magazine has been publishing its annual rankings of colleges and universities for more than 30 years. Although some academics have always objected to what they call a "beauty contest" or rankings of universities if they were sports teams, a movement gained steam among a handful of colleges and universities in the past year to commit not to use the magazine's rankings in institutional marketing.
"I can see both sides of the debate," said Schrader. "It is extremely difficult to quantify the learning experience using financial information and published test scores. There is no way to accurately assess what students knew when they came here and what they know when they leave. There is no scientific way to determine what value we added to their whole body of knowledge."
"At the same time," he added, "when you look at the money that an institution spends on instruction and on each student, it does show where your priorities are, and that's a good indicator of what value you are providing to students."
Highlights of the 2008 rankings are available on-line at www.usnews.com and are scheduled for publication in the magazine's Aug. 27 issue, which will be on newsstands Monday, Aug. 20
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