U.S. News thinks highly of Utah universities

The report also ranked the U. among the nation's best business schools, with the David Eccles School of Business climbing three sports from last year to 60th in the nation. The U.'s College of Engineering also came in at No. 60 for similar colleges.

The U. was also one of 25 schools highlighted by the magazine for its service learning curriculum, which emphasizes volunteer work as part of a program of study.

"We are fortunate to have faculty who value service-learning as a teaching and learning tool as well as community agencies that provide real-world learning opportunities to our students," said Marshall Welch, director of the Lowell Bennion Community Service Center.

BYU also ranked 12th nationally in least debt with just 35 percent of BYU students graduating with debt, and those who do averaging $12,995.

"This is something that we take very seriously at BYU," Jenkins said. "We even provide a program for our students that they can analyze their financial situation and determine if it is wise for them to go into debt and how much, looking into how much they'll make when they graduate and the cost of the debt when they graduate. We want them to go into it with their eyes wide open."

The program is called "Creating a financial path to graduation," and BYU has shared it with other colleges and universities that have requested it.

BYU also made the list for its undergraduate accounting program, which ranked fifth in specialty categories, and its undergraduate business program that ranked 37th.

BYU ranked 19th on the national universities list of "Great Schools, Great Prices," joined in the top 20 by Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Duke and Brown.

"We are particularly pleased in the company we share on that list," BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said. "U.S. News pointed out that schools on the list must be above average academically."

In the overall rankings for comprehensive colleges, UVSC was listed between 31st and 40th in the west, while BYU-Hawaii ranked fourth, behind Linfield College in Oregon, Carroll College in Montana and Master's College and Seminary in California.

U.S. News reported that BYU-Hawaii has the lowest acceptance rate of all comprehensive colleges in the West. Only 11 percent of applicants are accepted.

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Contributing: Laura Hancock

E-mail: twalch@desnews.com; estewart@desnews.com