UMF garners accolades for academic excellence, quality of teaching, and value
By Grace McIntosh ’22, December 2018
In what’s become a seemingly perennial tradition, the University of Maine at Farmington has received several national honors for academic distinction, quality of teaching, value, and other hallmarks of excellence that sustain UMF’s strong reputation.
Farmington was named the No. 4 Top Public Regional Colleges–North by U.S. News & World Report for 2019. This marks more than two decades of recognition from perhaps the most widely consulted source of rankings among America’s college-bound high school students. U.S. News & World Report also deemed Farmington No. 9 for Best Regional College–North Overall, a category that considers 56 peer schools in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
When it comes to what drives Farmington’s ongoing success in the national rankings, Jared Cash, vice president of enrollment and external affairs, points to UMF’s “affordability, rich academic experiences, and holistic, student-centered support.”
Jared Cash, vice president of enrollment and external affairs at UMF. (Photo by Russell Caron.)
Cash also says Farmington is a strong contender among prospective students and their families seeking value and evidence of a return on their financial investment. Here again, the editors of national rankings concur.
U.S. News & World Report named UMF a Best Value School–Regional Colleges–North for 2019. To calculate best value U.S. News scrutinizes the schools’ academic quality and the 2017–18 net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid. “The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal,” say the editors, who ranked Farmington among the top 10 schools in the category.
Farmington was also among only 14 percent of the nation’s 5,300 colleges named a Money magazine 2018–19 Best College for Your Money, cited for academic strength, six-year graduation rates, financial-aid resources, and value, among other metrics. Cash says that 98 percent of UMF students receive some form of financial aid and the University meets upwards of 85 percent of students’ demonstrated need.
“Elite, private colleges of our size, like Williams and Bowdoin, have the resources to meet 100 percent of students’ demonstrated need,” Cash explains. “Very few public institutions like us, though, can actually meet the level of financial need we’re meeting.”
With its high percentage of faculty with doctoral and terminal degrees, low student-faculty ratio, and relatively small class sizes, Farmington also was ranked fourth in the Best Undergraduate College for Teaching Regional Colleges–North category by U.S. News & World Report.
“Our faculty and staff have long been committed to student success,” says Cash. “Our focus on close student-faculty interaction means Farmington remains a place where professors know their students and are deeply invested in their intellectual development and helping them achieve their career goals.”
What’s more, U.S. News & World Report also named UMF a Best School for Veterans, ranking us fourth among Regional Colleges–North. The selection recognizes Farmington’s participation in federal initiatives that help veterans and active-duty service members pay for their education.
Cash says this year’s raft of honors reflects not only quantitative measures of excellence, but also the perception of UMF among our peer institutions and high school guidance counselors.
“We are ranked in terms of how we’re respected, how we’re known, and how they perceive the quality of Farmington,” he says. “This kind of reputational validation speaks just as strongly to our strengths.”
Learn more about UMF’s national reputation and other top rankings.
About the author
Grace McIntosh ’22, editorial assistant for Farmington First, is a first-year student from Farmington, Maine. She enjoys documenting the life of the University and sharing her accounts with the UMF alumni community. (Photo by Brandon Cardona ’20.)