UM earns high placement in best colleges rankings

FROM STAFF REPORTS

MONTEVALLO – U.S. News & World Report has ranked the University of Montevallo as one of the best colleges in the South in multiple categories for the 16th consecutive year.

“We are proud of our strong standing in the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings,” said Dr. John W. Stewart III, president of UM. “Achieving such a high overall ranking, along with a top 10 position in the Best Value category, highlights the dedication of our Board of Trustees, administration, faculty and staff to prioritize students and offer significant value to them and their families.”

According to the 2025 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings, Montevallo ranked No. 8 in the Best Value School in the South category. Amongst the Top Public Universities in the South, UM ranked No. 10. In the Best Regional Universities in the South, Montevallo ranked No. 23.

UM has once again ranked in the top 50 in the Top Performers on Social Mobility in the South category, with an improvement of eight rankings from last year. This category recognizes colleges and universities that are successful at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants.

U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges rankings are based on a comprehensive analysis of academic quality. The primary focus is on outcome measures, such as graduation rates, retention rates, graduate indebtedness and social mobility, which together account for 40 percent of a school’s overall score. Other factors include faculty resources, expert opinions, financial resources, student excellence and alumni giving. Each school’s performance on these indicators is compared to the mean and standard deviation values of other schools to create a normalized score, which is then weighted and summed to determine the final ranking.

Montevallo recently celebrated its growing enrollment numbers, starting the fall 2024 semester with a total enrollment of 3,142, which was up about 5.4 percent since fall 2023. UM welcomed 592 freshmen this semester, its largest freshman class since fall 2012. Graduate enrollment increased 10.6 percent compared to fall 2023, with an enrollment of 449.

Standardized test scores are currently not required for admission and the university has frozen tuition rates since 2018. Learn more about the University of Montevallo and its programs at Montevallo.edu. The University will also host Preview Days—an interactive, welcoming event for interested high school and community college students—on Monday, Oct. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 16. Learn more and register at Montevallo.edu/preview-day.

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