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As part of its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, U.S. News & World Report measures the percentage of alumni who contribute to their colleges and universities, so as to gauge graduates’ satisfaction with the education they have received. In its latest survey of nearly 1,200 schools — based on average giving rates between 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 — the magazine ranks Thomas Aquinas College No. 2 in the United States, second only to Princeton University, and No. 1 among national liberal arts colleges.

U.S. News Best Colleges 2016
“We are grateful to our alumni for, once again, demonstrating their gratitude and commitment to their alma mater through their generous annual giving,” says Vice President for Development Paul J. O’Reilly. “Their support enables the College to share the gift of a Catholic liberal education to another generation of students in two ways. First, alumni gifts help us to cover our $4 million in annual financial aid costs; and, second, our consistently high level of alumni satisfaction greatly improves our chances of receiving grants from philanthropic foundations.”

The College’s 58.3 percent alumni-giving rate is nearly five times greater than the previously reported national average rate of 12.8 percent. It is also nearly four percentage points higher than the average among those schools with the Top 10 highest rates (54.4 percent). Thomas Aquinas College is the only Catholic institution to make the Top 10 rankings, and the only one from the Western United States.

“It is always heartening to see how our alumni — even if they are just starting out in the world, or if they have large families to provide for, or if they are priests — will find a way to contribute, often sacrificially, to the College,” says Director of Alumni Relations Mark Kretschmer. “Time and again, they tell me that they are so grateful to the benefactors who helped make their education possible, and they now want to pass along that gift to today’s students.”