Fairfield University remains among the top of the "Best Universities - Master's" in the North in U.S. News & World Report's 2010 edition | Press Releases

U.S. News & World Report's 2010 edition of America's Best Colleges, has placed Fairfield University in sole possession of the number four spot among the Best Universities-Master's in the North; last year Fairfield shared the honor with Bentley College, which this year placed sixth. This is the 19th year in a row that Fairfield has ranked among the top four in this category.

The overall score for Fairfield was 84 this year, with Loyola College Maryland just ahead with an 85 and Providence with 87. Villanova once again retained the number one position.

Fairfield University was also cited in the report among "Great Schools, Great Prices," where it ranked just above Loyola College Maryland. The selection is based on academic ranking and the net cost of attendance for a student who receives the average level of need-based financial aid. U.S. News & World Report explains its methodology with, "The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal."

Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J., said he was pleased that Fairfield University has remained so consistently at the top of the U.S. News and World Report's rankings, as well as in other college guides. "We know that prospective students and their families look to such rankings to get a sense of the overall academic quality of a university, but that is really just a preliminary step in an extensive process of selecting a school. Learning about the unquantifiable characteristics is just as important. At Fairfield that would mean becoming acquainted with the ways in which Fairfield integrates student living and learning experiences, the collaborative research opportunities available to undergraduate students to work with our teaching scholars, our extensive internship and study abroad programs, and our commitment to diversity and social justice issues in the best of the Jesuit tradition of educating the whole person. Visiting a college to meet students, staff and faculty helps tremendously in assessing what it has to offer students."

For more about Fairfield University and its programs, please visit www.fairfield.edu.