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Rocky Mountain College again on Top 10 list of "America’s Best Colleges 2003."

As it has for the past decade, Rocky Mountain College, was named Friday to the Top Ten list in U.S. News & World Report’s latest issue of "America’s Best Colleges 2003."

GAZETTE STAFF

According to the magazine, Rocky earned its designation as a comprehensive college that focuses on undergraduate education and offers a wide range of degree programs. There are 322 comprehensive colleges ranked within four regions: Midwest, North, South, and West. Rocky is in the Western region.

Rocky earned its place among the "Best Values" category, for the colleges that are the "greatest schools at the greatest prices." Seventy-five percent of all undergraduates at Rocky receive financial aid.

"It has been Rocky’s tradition, for nearly 125 years, that family financial circumstances will not be the yardstick of admission," says RMC President Thomas R. Oates. "We allot a significant percentage of our annual budget to financial aid because we believe strongly that students in Montana deserve a quality, affordable liberal-arts education."

Rocky also ranked in the Top Five category for the highest proportion of classes with 20 or fewer students. Eight-two percent of classes at Rocky have fewer than 20 students. The average student-faculty ratio at Rocky is 13:1.

"This is where Rocky has earned its reputation as a school that delivers personalized education," says Brade Nason, vice president of student affairs and a 1981 alumnus of Rocky.

Rocky further was praised for its campus diversity. Ten percent of the student body is Native American, and the college received praise for "attracting international students from across the globe."

Rocky has garnered other national recognition for academic excellence this year.

The school was named as one of the "Great Colleges for the Real World," in the 2002-2003 edition of the book, "Get In. Get Out. Get A Job," which praised Rocky’s "career development potential" and noted studies over the past 10 years showing that within, four months of graduation, an average of 99 percent of RMC’s graduates are employed or in graduate school.

The book also lauded the college’s degree-completion and physician-assistant programs.

Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2002/09/14/build/local/96-rocky.inc

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