Public Radio for the Piedmont and High Country
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Duke, UNC-CH Among Top Schools In U.S. News Rankings

The Old Well on campus at The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Several North Carolina colleges and universities have again made a strong showing in this year's U.S. News and World Report rankings, which were released Monday.

The U.S. News college rankings assess over 1,400 institutions on 17 measures of academic quality including tuition, graduation rates, and campus life.

Duke University topped the national rankings for North Carolina schools, coming in at 9th overall and 13th in best value. Total tuition for the Durham private school is about $80,000, which doesn't factor in financial aid and scholarship programs.

Duke's longtime sports rival UNC-Chapel Hill was listed at 28th and named the 5th best public university in the country.

In the Piedmont Triad, Wake Forest University tied with UNC-Chapel Hill at 28th and was also rated 24th for best value.

High Point University led the roundup of Best Regional Colleges in the South, ranking No. 1 overall and taking the second spot for undergraduate teaching.

As for Best Regional University in the South, Appalachian State placed 6th overall and 3rd among public institutions.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, slight adjustments were made this year in assessing SAT and ACT scores, and there was a greater reliance on historic data in ranking schools.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

Support quality journalism, like the story above,
with your gift right now.

Donate