CLU Ranks High In ‘U.S. News’ and Forbes.com Ratings

California Lutheran University received high ratings in two reports on the nation's universities.

CLU is ranked 16th on the 2009 U.S. News & World Report list of top schools in the West offering quality bachelor's and master's degrees. Last year, it was ranked 20th. The University has placed among the top 20 Western Regional Universities for 14 years.

The new rankings were featured in the Sept. 1 edition of U.S. News & World Report magazine and the 2009 America's Best Colleges guidebook.

In Forbes.com's first report on America's Best Colleges released during the summer, CLU ranked 251st among all private and public undergraduate institutions in the United States. The Forbes report was compiled as an alternative to the U.S. News rankings in conjunction with an Ohio University economist and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. It uses different criteria, including student evaluations and alumni achievement, and doesn't break the rankings into subcategories.

In the U.S. News report, CLU maintained its spot among the top institutions in the West based on high scores in several categories. The percent of freshmen in the top 25 percent of their high school graduating class increased from 55 percent in the 2008 rankings to 68 percent. CLU also showed improvement in its assessment by the country's top academics, graduation rate and percent of classes with fewer than 20 students.