North Central ranked among America’s Top Colleges by Forbes

North Central College alumni land good jobs after graduation and experience a high return on their education investment, Forbes says in its 2015 America’s Top Colleges rankings.

For the fifth straight year Forbes includes North Central College among the top 20 percent of the nation’s colleges and universities. The magazine profiles the top 650 of the nearly 2,500 four-year institutions of higher learning in the United States. For 2015 Forbes ranks North Central College No. 482 overall, No. 324 among private colleges and No. 113 in the Midwest.

North Central College rates higher than many other institutions in Forbes’ “Grateful Graduates Index,” ranking No. 154 in the nation. The index ranks colleges by the median amount of private donations per student over a 10-year period.

“The idea is that the best colleges are the ones that produce successful people who make enough money during their careers to be charitable and feel compelled to give back to their alma mater,” Forbes says of its Grateful Graduates Index.

North Central College scores a “Forbes Financial Grade” of B, a measure of “balance sheet strength, operational soundness and certain other factors indicative of a college’s financial health, including admission yield.”

Forbes also rates North Central College No. 20 among Midwestern institutions granting master’s degrees and No. 27 in the nation among institutions affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

The annual rankings are compiled for Forbes by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for College Affordability. The rankings are based on 12 factors in five weighted categories: post-graduate success (32.5 percent), student satisfaction (25 percent), student debt (25 percent), academic success (10 percent) and graduation rate (7.5 percent).

North Central College’s full description may be viewed at forbes.com/colleges/north-central-college. Visit forbes.com/top-colleges to learn more.