Fort Hays State University is the top university in Kansas and one of the elite universities in the nation for the quality of its online education programs, according to a just-completed survey by U.S. News & World Report, a prominent national news magazine.
In a news release today from FHSU, it was also noted that online courses and degrees offered by Fort Hays State through its Virtual College are less expensive than every one of the universities that were ranked as high or higher than FHSU in the survey. The costs per credit hour were determined in a review by FHSU staff of university websites independent of the U.S. News survey.
U.S. News, which produces one of the most popular general rankings of colleges and universities, released today its third annual national rankings that specifically target online education. As in the previous two years, FHSU was among the leaders out of the thousands of public and private universities in the United States.
The news magazine evaluated online higher education in six categories: bachelor’s programs generally and master’s programs in business, education, engineering, nursing and computer information technology. FHSU offers online bachelor’s courses and master’s courses in business, education and nursing.
Based on the statistical data provided to U.S. News by FHSU, all four programs were rated highly:
· For online bachelor’s degrees, FHSU ranked 16th.
· For online master’s degrees in education, FHSU ranked 20th.
· For online master’s degrees in business, FHSU ranked 64th.
· For online master’s degrees in nursing, FHSU ranked 71st.
FHSU was the top ranked university in the state of Kansas for each category except online nursing, where the University of Kansas was ranked 24th.
The criteria used by U.S. News included student engagement; faculty credentials and training; peer reputation; student services and technology; and admissions selectivity.
“Fort Hays State was a pioneer in incorporating modern technology into our curriculum and using it to make higher education available at a distance, so we expect to excel in surveys like this one,” said Dr. Edward H. Hammond, FHSU president.
Hammond also noted that while it was not part of the survey, FHSU has emphasized academic rigor from the beginning in the development and delivery of its online courses.
The president and Dennis King, director of the Virtual College, also pointed out that in addition to high quality, FHSU offers exceptionally low tuition to its online students.
“We are in the lowest one percent nationally in terms of online tuition,” King said. “This survey further proves our claim that FHSU students are getting a top tier education at the most affordable price.”