Kent State was ranked No. 101 in top public schools, making it the only public institution in Northeast Ohio to receive the accolade. 

Kent State tied with California State University, Fresno, Georgia State University and Mississippi State University in top public schools, according to U.S. News & World Report. Kent State was ranked in the top tier and is one of six Ohio public universities on the list according to a press release. 

Eric Mansfield, executive director for university media relations, said the higher ranking can attribute to higher graduation and retention rates, as well as the quality of students who are attending Kent State. 

“More students are graduating, more students are graduating on time,” Mansfield said. “The GPA of our incoming freshmen classes keeps going up… So I think the quality of our students, and then setting them up to be successful in earning degrees was the biggest factor in the university climbing in the rankings.” 

According to U.S. News & World Report, Kent State was ranked No. 211 in National Universities, tied with California State University, Fresno, Georgia State University, Immaculata University, Mississippi State University, University of Hartford and Wilkes University.  

In a press release, President Todd Diacon said Kent State was pleased with the rankings.

“The U.S. News & World Report rankings are an important way for the world to discover what we already know: Kent State offers affordable, top-quality education in a wide variety of majors,” Diacon said in a press release. “This fulfills our mission of keeping higher education attainable for our students.” 

Contact Molly Heideman at [email protected].