UTA ranked nation’s top public research university for least student debt
For the second year in a row, U.S. News & World Report ranked The University of Texas at Arlington the top national public university for graduates incurring the least amount of student debt. The magazine’s “Best Colleges 2018” ranking also lists UTA among the top campuses in the nation for ethnic diversity. These rankings demonstrate UTA’s continued excellence in enabling access while providing the highest quality education.
According to the magazine’s “Best Colleges 2018” rankings, only students from three private national institutions – Princeton, Yale and Brigham Young – incur less average debt than UTA graduates. Students who borrow to cover the cost of their UTA degrees accumulate an average debt of $15,559, well below the 2016 national average of $37,172.
The “Best Colleges 2018” list also ranks universities according to ethnic diversity. UTA is among ten universities that achieved a diversity index of .71, the fifth highest index in the nation. The closer a diversity index is to 1.0, the more diverse the student population.
“I am proud that The University of Texas at Arlington is keeping the cost of college down for Texans,” said State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake. “We all benefit from UTA’s commitment to making a college degree attainable, because an educated workforce means more economic promise for the entire state.”
The U.S. News “Best Colleges 2018” rankings also measure undergraduate programs in business and engineering. UTA’s undergraduate business programs rank No. 128 in the nation, up five spots from 2017. Undergraduate programs in the College of Engineering are ranked No. 110.
UTA President Vistasp Karbhari said, “These rankings are a testament to the commitment of our dedicated faculty and staff to enabling the highest quality of education to the communities we serve at an affordable cost. UTA is not only focused on developing workforce-ready graduates, but also the future leaders of our state, nation and world. Access and excellence must not be compromised by the burden of debt.”
UTA, a Hispanic Serving Institution where 40 percent of the student body is Pell-eligible, was recently ranked by the Brookings Institution as being among the top 25 “leader” universities, which provide high social mobility and produce high levels of impactful research. Among the nation’s 342 selective four-year public research institutions, UTA was recognized for providing pathways for students from low-income backgrounds to move into higher income brackets and achieve advanced careers as a direct result of their UTA degrees.
In August, the Top 100 Degrees Conferred list from Diverse: Issues in Higher Education listed UTA as No.1 in Texas for the number of bachelor’s and master’s degrees awarded to African-American students and No. 21 in the U.S. for bachelor’s and master’s degrees conferred to all minority students.
