GU Ranked A Most Affordable College

LAMONI, IOWA, JULY 11, 2013 – AffordableCollegesOnline.org (ACO) has ranked Graceland University’s distance learning program as the 44^th most affordable in the country. Graceland is one of the few private colleges ranked in this category by ACO.

ACO recently launched a new list of the nation’s “Most Affordable Online Colleges” identifying 54 colleges across the country with distance learning options, affordable tuition and fees and alumni with strong earnings after graduation. Detailed criteria for the list include the following:

·        Maximum Net Price (Tuition + Fees)  = $15,000

·        Fully accredited US institution

·        Non-profit college

·        Four-year, degree-granting institution

·        Students with starting salaries of at least $31,000 upon graduation

·        At least one course available online (IPEDS)

ACO mined the following highly respected, authoritative data sets to compile its “Most Affordable Online Colleges” list:

·         NCES (https://nces.ed.gov/), the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education. It provides consistent, reliable, complete, and accurate indicators of education status and trends.

·         IPEDS (https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/), the primary federal source for data on colleges, universities, and technical and vocational postsecondary schools in the U.S.

·         Carnegie Classification (https://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/), a framework widely used in the study of higher education, both as a way to represent and control for institutional differences, and also in the design of research studies to ensure adequate representation of sampled institutions, students, or faculty.

·         Payscale.com, the premier salary data collection organization.

“Online education allows people to attend school without having to quit their jobs or disrupt their lives,” said Graceland University President John Sellars. “According to Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, people with a bachelor’s degree earn 84 percent more than those with only a high school diploma in their lifetimes—making online education, with its flexibility, an increasingly popular option. This is why online education is becoming an essential part of Graceland’s education.”

View Graceland’s ACO ranking here (the link has since been removed).

About Affordable Colleges Online:

Affordable Colleges Online provides students with information about affordable higher education options.  The website provides financial aid videos, expert advice, and cost savings ideas.  ACO is a trusted resource for college stats and rankings. Most recently the site launched a feature that provides students with a categorized directory of free online introductory, or “101”, classes from several top named U.S. universities such as MIT, Michigan and U.C. Berkeley.