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������ʷ has again been named one of America’s best colleges, earning a spot in the top tier of the “best national universities” category of U.S. News and World Report’s newly released Best Colleges 2014 rankings.

The U.S. News rankings, released on Sept. 10, are considered the most notable of the annual published college rankings. For more than 20 years, Biola has been included on U.S. News’ list of national universities, which consists of 281 institutions that “offer a wide range of undergraduate majors as well as master’s and doctoral degrees,” according to U.S. News. This year, Biola is ranked at No. 177 overall, and is one of two national universities in the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) to be ranked in the first tier.

“Now in my seventh year as president, I am privileged to work with what I consider to be the finest collection of administrators, faculty and staff in Christian higher education today,” said ������ʷ President Barry H. Corey. “I believe our future is bright as we move forward by providing the highest quality of Christ-centered education, scholarship and service, responding with conviction and courage amidst a rapidly changing landscape.”

The annual guide also spotlights Biola as one of the nation’s “A+ schools for B students” for the fourth consecutive year. The list includes universities where “nonsuperstars have a decent shot of being accepted and thriving — where spirit and hard work could make all the difference to admissions offices.”

To calculate the rankings, U.S. News uses quantitative data that assesses universities’ performance in everything from graduation and retention rates to faculty resources, measuring up to 16 indicators of academic performance. This quantitative data results in 77.5 percent of the overall score; the remaining 22.5 percent is based on undergraduate academic reputation surveys.

The U.S. News rankings are the latest in a series of national recognitions for the university. In August, reported that Biola was sixth on the list of the nation’s fastest-growing private research universities from 2001 to 2011. The Chronicle also named Biola as one of the nation's for a second year in a row — a distinction given as a result of employee surveys. Also in August, The named Biola one of 124 “Best in the West” colleges.

U.S. News’ Best Colleges 2014 guidebook will be in stores Sept. 18 and is available online.