Middle Tennessee State University has again made the U.S. News & World Report’s Top 100 national list for Top Performers in Social Mobility for its efforts to help disadvantaged students reach their educational goals.

U.S. News on Monday announced its 2022-23 evaluations of 1,500 colleges and universities, ranking MTSU at No. 82 for social mobility; No. 156 for Top Public Schools; No. 130 for Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (at schools where doctorate not offered); No. 206 in Nursing; and No. 247 in Business. The university also was ranked No. 299 among the top National Universities.

MTSU, which first made U.S. News’ Top 100 in Social Mobility in 2020, devotes considerable efforts to serve first-generation and underrepresented college students. It recently launched a new push, called MT Tuition Free, to help qualified students determine pathways that could eliminate or greatly reduce their tuition costs (read more about at www.mtsu.edu/mtfree).  

“Economically disadvantaged students are less likely than others to finish college, even when controlling for other characteristics,” U.S. News said in its announcement for its social mobility rankings. “But some colleges are more successful than others at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants. The vast majority of these federal grants are awarded to students whose adjusted gross family incomes are under $50,000.”

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee said of the ranking, “We truly are Tennessee’s university of opportunities. Our devotion to student success, supported by our strategic investments in academic advising, excellent support services and state-of-the-art facilities, helps students from all walks of life reach their dreams.”

McPhee also noted the consecutive annual recognition by U.S. News comes just days after the university was included on the 2022-23 national Colleges of Distinction list. That ranking also cited MTSU’s Business, Education and Nursing programs, as well as the efforts by the Career Development Center and the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center.

The Colleges of Distinction announcement said MTSU “is consistently evolving its programs to ensure that students keep up with the fast-paced evolution of the global market.”

— Andrew Oppmann (Andrew.Oppmann@mtsu.edu)