FMU once again ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges”

Francis Marion University has again been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a top Regional University in the South. The University has consistently been ranked among the best universities in the South for over two decades.

This year, the University was recognized in five different categories and showed improvement from last year in the areas of Best Regional Universities, Best Value Schools, and Best Colleges for Veterans. The University was also noted as being a Top Public Regional University and Top Performer on Social Mobility.

Additionally, four academic programs were ranked among the nation’s best. FMU’s School of Health Sciences, home to the Department of Nursing, received the honor of being ranked among the nation’s top undergraduate nursing programs. The University’s fast-growing engineering program, which is less than ten years old and includes mechanical and industrial engineering, was recognized among undergraduate engineering programs. The School of Business received recognition as a top business school. The undergraduate psychology program was also recognized for the first time this year as a new category was added for this discipline. 

FMU President Fred Carter said this year’s rankings once again reinforce the quality of the education students receive from Francis Marion.

“We are proud to be ranked among the best universities in the South once again,” said Carter. “The rankings are indicative of our continuing commitment to provide a superlative education at an affordable cost, as evidenced by six straight years without an increase in tuition. Of course, they also highlight the teaching and research competencies of our very gifted faculty.”

To conduct the annual rankings, U.S. News & World Report divides schools into categories with FMU classified as a regional university, a school that provides a full range of undergraduate majors and graduate-level programs. This category, with 601 institutions, is the largest category. 

The speciality ranking areas such as program categories, include universities of all sizes and classifications within a single ranking. The magazine ranks colleges and universities in all its categories using data that reflects academic excellence and various other aspects of university life.