September 10, 2013
10,000 Ojai Road
Santa Paula CA 93060
Contact: Anne Forsyth, Director of College Relations
(805) 525-4417      

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

U.S. News Ranks Thomas Aquinas College Highly for Academics, Value, Small Class Size & Least Debt

SANTA PAULA—September 10, 2013—In its newly released Best Colleges 2014 guide, U.S. News & World Report places Thomas Aquinas College in the top third of the highest tier of all American liberal arts colleges. The magazine has also given top ranking to the four-year Catholic college for its financial aid program, placing it as one of only 40 schools nationwide on its Great Schools, Great Price list. It is the only Catholic institution to be ranked on this list.

In discussing the basis for this “Best Value” ranking, U.S. News explains that it “takes into account a school’s academic quality….The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal.” It adds that “only schools ranked in or near the top half of their categories are included, because U.S. News considers the most significant values to be among colleges that are above average academically.”

In addition, U.S. News has ranked Thomas Aquinas College first in the country for the highest proportion of classes under 20 students (100%) and in the top 25 schools for “Least Debt” at graduation.

Says the college’s director of admissions, Jon Daly, “We are very happy to see that U.S. News has ranked Thomas Aquinas College even more highly for academics this year than in the past, while also applauding our financial aid policies and small class size. In these difficult economic times, it is important for students and parents to be confident that the investment they make in a college education does not go to waste.”

The College has received high marks in the newest editions of many of the annual college guides, both secular and Catholic, including those published by the Princeton Review, the Association of College Trustees and Alumni (whatwilltheylearn.com), Kiplinger’s, the Cardinal Newman Society, the National Catholic Register, and Catholic Digest.

“Taken together with this report from U.S. News,” says Mr. Daly, “these reviews offer parents and prospective students a fairly good idea of the strength of our unique program. A visit to the campus will also afford them the opportunity to observe our classes firsthand and experience the vibrant spiritual life of the college and the joy students take in pursuing their studies in and outside of class.”

Adds President Michael McLean, “This year’s U.S. News report, along with the many others that highly rank Thomas Aquinas College, are strong indicators of what some do not think possible, but what we at the college have firmly held from the beginning: An institution of higher learning can be faithfully Catholic while providing excellent academics at a competitive price.”

About Thomas Aquinas College

Thomas Aquinas College is a four-year, Catholic liberal arts college with a fully-integrated curriculum composed of the Great Books, the seminal works in the major disciplines by the great thinkers who have helped shape Western civilization. There are no textbooks, no lectures and no electives. Instead, under the guidance of faculty members and using only the Discussion Method in classes of no more than 20, students read and discuss the original works of authors such as Euclid, Dante, Galileo, Descartes, the American Founding Fathers, Adam Smith, Shakespeare, Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, Einstein, Aristotle, Plato, St. Augustine, and of course, St. Thomas Aquinas. Graduates consistently excel in the many world-class institutions at which they pursue graduate degrees in fields such as law, medicine, business, theology and education. They have distinguished themselves serving as lawyers, doctors, business owners, priests, military service men and women, educators, journalists and college presidents.