Whats does this mean when they say that?

Question

NSU is ranked as a 4th tier university by U.S. News and World Report

Answer 1

According to the Washington State University site at:
http://www.wsu.edu/NIS/releases3/tm165.htm, speaking about the U.S. News and World report:

According to the magazine, the tiers to which universities and college have been assigned are modifications of the groupings developed in 1994 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which classifies schools by their mission. The 228 "national universities" offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master's and doctoral degrees, and emphasize faculty research.

"Through these rankings, I'm pleased our university's quality education in a caring community is recognized," said Washington State President V. Lane Rawlins.

I read the U.S. News blog and if you're interested in how the magazine uses the ranks, see it at:
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2007/6/6/categorizing-colleges.html#read_more

Answer 2

You'd have to check U.S. News and World Report magazine, but they do put out an annual (or biannual?) survey and ranking of colleges and universities.

So "4th tier" might refer to a ranking of "overall quality" beneath the 1st, 2nd and 3rd "tiers," or it might refer to particular types of schools (like state schools, or community colleges, etc.) maybe.


Diane B.