Kent State Sets Enrollment Record, World Ranking Drops

Written by Kent Patch Local Editor Matt Fredmonsky

Kent State University has landed a coveted spot on the U.S. News and World Report's Best Colleges list for 2014 in the Best National Universities category, university officials announced Tuesday.

The university is listed at No. 201, which is a lower ranking than its previous two positions on the list in 2012 and 2011.

In 2011, Kent State ranked 183 out of 1,400 listed colleges. And in 2012 the university earned a ranking of 194 to tie with eight other schools out of 1,600 total on the list that year.

The slide in rankings for Kent State was enough to land it in the Washington Post's list of "major decliners" for this year.

Still, university officials celebrated the ranking Tuesday—the same day Kent State announced it had set another enrollment record for the fall semester on the Kent campus and also at Kent State Geauga Twinsburg Regional Academic Center.

Enrollment at Kent State University at Geauga is up 6.3 percent. Kent State Geauga reported 1,646 students for fall 2013 compared to 1,548 in the previous year.

“Over the last few years, we have been working hard to attract the best and the brightest to our great institution,” T. David Garcia, the university's associate vice president said. “In order to build the academic profile of our freshman class, we need to build our application pool. This allows us to be more selective, accepting those who are academically prepared for the rigorous academic experience here at Kent State. It will pay back in dividends with retention and graduation rates.”