For Immediate Release
GALLATIN, TN—Welch College has been ranked 1st in social mobility and 10th overall among “Best Regional Colleges–South” in the 2025 edition of U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges, according to President Matt Pinson.
The social mobility ranking measures the percentage of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who go on to graduate. The Regional Colleges–South category comprises 96 other colleges and universities in the South.
“We’re excited that Welch has climbed to 10th overall and 1st in social mobility in U.S. News Best Colleges,” President Pinson said. “This shows students, parents, and alumni our commitment to academic excellence and that Welch’s academic program is competitive and has recognition in the academic community.”
The Best Regional Colleges category includes institutions that focus on teaching undergraduate students. These schools offer a range of degree programs in the liberal arts and in professional fields.
“Colleges go up and down in these rankings each year,” Pinson said. “When we first entered the rankings fourteen years ago, we were ranked 52nd. In the past six years we’ve consistently been in the top 20. Our ranking this year at 10th is exciting.”
“We are thankful to be ranked so high again this year,” Provost Matthew McAffee said. “It’s especially gratifying to see that our faculty and staff’s diligent efforts to help students from economically challenged backgrounds graduate from college has been recognized in this #1 ranking for social mobility.”
U.S. News rankings judge the relative quality of institutions based on widely accepted indicators of excellence in higher education: what peer institutions think of the institution, how many freshmen return their sophomore year, how many of them go on to graduate, student-faculty ratio, faculty quality, financial resources, how many economically challenged students go on to graduate, and more.
“To put our ranking in perspective,” Pinson said, “the other top-ten institutions in our category have an average enrollment more than 5 times higher than Welch’s and an average endowment more than 30 times higher than Welch’s. We’re striving to be good stewards of the resources God has given us.”
Out of the 97 institutions in the Best Regional Colleges–South category, Welch received especially high marks in five strategic areas, ranking as follows:
1st in social mobility
2nd in graduation rate
2nd in student-faculty ratio
4th in ACT/SAT scores
5th lowest among private colleges in student debt after graduation
For more information about Welch, email gotowelch@welch.edu or visit welch.edu.