According to the U.S. News and World Report recent college rankings, NIU has been categorized in the fourth tier among national universities for the year 2008.

U.S. News and World Report has been ranking colleges since 1983 on a system of tiers.

These levels are based on a variety of categories that measure academic quality including peer assessment (25 percent), retention of students (20 percent), faculty resources (20 percent), student selectivity (15 percent), financial resources (10 percent), alumni giving (five percent) and graduation rates (five percent).

NIU also continues to be among the four percent of colleges in the nation listed in The Carnegie Foundation’s most dynamic grouping of “doctoral/research university-extensive.”

The University currently belongs to the group, Universities Research Association (URA) along with the most prestige colleges, including Harvard, Princeton and Yale.

Earl Seaver, vice-provost said what makes the university stand out is the commitment of faculty to work closely with students.

“Northern’s commitment to its students give the university a very positive aspect,” Seaver said. “I have found the faculty to get involved in the classroom, which gives us the best resources to teach undergrads.”

NIU is just one among the 62 schools in the U.S. ranked in the fourth tier. Other schools classified in the same ranking include Tennessee State University, University of Houston, University of Massachusetts (Boston), Northern Arizona University, Indiana State University and Louisiana Tech University among many others.

Northern’s business college continues to rank as one of the best in the country, as BusinessWeek magazine’s 2007 online ranking nationally named it 65th in the country .

The college has been nationally accredited by the AACSB — The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business — since 1969 in all three of its ranking categories: Undergraduate, Accountancy, and Graduate programs in business.

“U.S. News and World Report does not measure how well the students learn,” said Seaver. “When college searching, students need to go to the campus, visit faculty, see the quality of our programs and see what fits best individually.”

Tyler McDowall, freshman meteorology major, said he chose Northern not because of its rank, but because of its location as well as other significant factors.

“NIU offered my major, which isn’t offered at every institution in America,”

McDowall said.

“Northern is a fairly recognizable name, whereas my other choice of college was a small school that might not have given me the advancement opportunities that I can achieve through a Northern education.”