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Charles Town, WV, January 8, 2014—American Public University System (APUS) today announced that its undergraduate programs have been named to U.S. News & World Report’s annual qualitative ranking of top online degree programs for the second consecutive year. APUS ranked #34 nationally out of 283 schools offering online bachelor’s degree programs, or in the top 12 percent overall.
“It’s gratifying to have our undergraduate programs again be recognized for overall quality,” said Jennifer Stephens Helm, VP of institutional research and assessment for APUS. “However, while US News adjusted its ranking criteria this year to incorporate input from stakeholders, we believe there remains a disproportionate focus on graduation statistics similar to IPEDS, at the expense of the tangible learning and career outcomes most relevant to adult learners.”
“Since approximately 90% of our students are working adults and do not take a full-time course load, their attendance and persistence are not readily balanced with their career and life commitments. Through our ongoing dialogue with US News, it is our hope that their future rankings will better reflect these dynamics, along with the documented, third-party validation of the academic quality of our programs,” Helm added.
For more than two decades, APUS has offered affordable, accessible, quality academic programs to military and civilian students in a collaborative, 100% online classroom led by faculty scholar-practitioners who are leaders in their fields. The University and its senior leadership have been nationally recognized by the Sloan Consortium for excellence in online education. It also participates in the National Survey of Student Engagement and was recently selected as one of 12 Founding Institutions for the pilot of the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education’s Gateways to Completion™ (G2C™) process. APUS was the first fully-online university to participate in the Institute’s
“It’s gratifying to have our undergraduate programs again be recognized for overall quality,” said Jennifer Stephens Helm, VP of institutional research and assessment for APUS. “However, while US News adjusted its ranking criteria this year to incorporate input from stakeholders, we believe there remains a disproportionate focus on graduation statistics similar to IPEDS, at the expense of the tangible learning and career outcomes most relevant to adult learners.”
“Since approximately 90% of our students are working adults and do not take a full-time course load, their attendance and persistence are not readily balanced with their career and life commitments. Through our ongoing dialogue with US News, it is our hope that their future rankings will better reflect these dynamics, along with the documented, third-party validation of the academic quality of our programs,” Helm added.
For more than two decades, APUS has offered affordable, accessible, quality academic programs to military and civilian students in a collaborative, 100% online classroom led by faculty scholar-practitioners who are leaders in their fields. The University and its senior leadership have been nationally recognized by the Sloan Consortium for excellence in online education. It also participates in the National Survey of Student Engagement and was recently selected as one of 12 Founding Institutions for the pilot of the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education’s Gateways to Completion™ (G2C™) process. APUS was the first fully-online university to participate in the Institute’s