And now US News & World Report's Ranking.

[VULB#62]

We are the #4 Midwest Regional University in the 2017 rankings.  Ahead of us are:  #1 Creighton, #2 Butler and #3 Drake (MVC).

Regarding other fellow MVC schools:

#7 Bradley
#9 Evansville
#25 NIU
#106 Missouri State
#103 (National Universities) Loyola
#159 (National Universities) Illinois State
#216 (National Universities) SIU
Rank not published - (National Universities) - Indiana State

Also.... Valpo is rated #1 among Midwest Regional universities as Best Value.

As always it is hard to figure out why little Trinity International University is considered a National university and Valpo is a Regional university.

[94Alum]

Why and how are Creighton, Butler, and Drake better than us?  Does anyone know why they continue to edge us out?  Particularly when we score so high (1st) in undergraduate teaching and other side-categories? 

...and what can we do to rise into the top 3?

[usc4valpo]

It would be interesting to see the criteria for the ranking. How is Loyola at 103?

[vu84v2]

These are the criteria:

Graduation and Retention Rates: 22.5%
Undergraduate academic reputation: 22.5%
Faculty Resources: 20% - key factors here are class size, faculty salary and % of professors having PhDs
Student Selectivity: 12.5%
Financial Resources: 10%
Graduation Rate Performance: 7.5% This is based on improvement in predicted graduation rate due to programs implemented by the university.
Alumni Giving Rate: 5%

My guess would be that, compared to Creighton, Drake and Butler, Valpo may rate a little lower on reputation, faculty resources, financial resources and alumni giving rate.

Of course, many of these ratings are splitting hairs when comparing one school to another in the final rankings.

[Vale O. Paradise]

Yes, Valpo has higher acceptance rate, lower retention rate, lower graduation rate, lower admissions yield, lower avg SAT.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/compare?xwalk_id=152600&xwalk_id=181002&xwalk_id=150163&xwalk_id=153269

http://colleges.startclass.com/compare/1323-1422-1442-2460/Butler-University-vs-Valparaiso-University-vs-Drake-University-vs-Creighton-University

[78crusader]

I've been told by someone at VU that the University has made a conscious effort to enroll more minority students over the past 5-6 years. As a result, VU has had to devote more financial aid to lower achieving students.  In addition, the freshman retention rate is lowered because more minority students, especially those from urban areas, leave school during or at the end of their first year.

Paul

[ml2]

A couple thoughts related to this thread.

1. I think the US News categories are basically just based on what levels of degrees a school offers.

Bachelors only = liberal arts college
Limited masters degrees = regional college
Many masters but no PhDs = regional university
PhD granting institutions = national university

So "moving up" categories would require creating new PhD programs. TIU does offer a couple PhDs.

2. Valpo's traditional student body has come overwhelmingly from the general (non-minority) HS population in the four Lake Michigan states (WI, IL, IN and MI) plus Lutherans (especially but not exclusively LCMS) nationwide. Both of these groups are currently shrinking. There will be fewer high school kids graduating in these states each year for the foreseeable future, just as there will be fewer Lutheran confirmands nationwide. To maintain enrollment the university will either have to pull a continually higher share of kids from the same shrinking pool, or expand into pools it has not been able or willing to pull from in the past.

[vu72]

The "National" ranking for Trinity International is a bit confusing.  They offer less than half the undergrad programs offered at Valpo.  They have a similar number of Masters programs and 4 PhD programs to Valpo's 1. Having more than one may be the answer or possibly that they gained that ranking by having campus sites in California, Florida and Illinois.  Nothing else makes any sense.

[vu84v2]

ml2's comments:

2. Valpo's traditional student body has come overwhelmingly from the general (non-minority) HS population in the four Lake Michigan states (WI, IL, IN and MI) plus Lutherans (especially but not exclusively LCMS) nationwide. Both of these groups are currently shrinking. There will be fewer high school kids graduating in these states each year for the foreseeable future, just as there will be fewer Lutheran confirmands nationwide. To maintain enrollment the university will either have to pull a continually higher share of kids from the same shrinking pool, or expand into pools it has not been able or willing to pull from in the past.

ml2 raises some very good points about demand from the target population segments going down. In addition to ml2's points, I would add a few additional thoughts. First, with the price of higher education increasing overall more students seem to be applying and going to state schools. They know that they need the degree and, while they might value the better teaching, they just can't or don't want to pay that much for four years of college. Second, with the cost of college being as high as it is more people want to go into fields with better near and long term pay. The data seems to support this, with enrollment strong in nursing, engineering and other STEM fields. The problem for any university, however, is how to adjust quickly to this trend. Universities like Valparaiso have lots of money tied up in buildings and tenured faculty for liberal arts programs and would need to invest more money in space and faculty for nursing and STEM fields. Valparaiso has made good moves in this direction in recent years (new science building, engineering building expansion, new faculty, etc.), but more may be needed quickly if Valparaiso is going to sustain its enrollment.

One additional thought...while advertising available financial aid has become much better in recent years, I still wonder if people realize that the net cost at a school like Valparaiso is not that much higher than many (though not all) state school options.