LAKELAND, Fla. (Aug. 20, 2009) — In its annual "Best Colleges" rankings released today, U.S. News & World Report ranked Florida Southern College among the Top 10 Best Baccalaureate Colleges in the South for the seventh consecutive year. At number 9 on the list, Florida Southern is the highest-ranked baccalaureate college in Florida.

U. S. News & World Report ranks institutions in the areas of student quality and selectivity; retention and graduation rates; faculty quality; class size; and alumni giving, among other criteria. The publication defines baccalaureate institutions as those that focus on undergraduate education and offer a range of degree programs in the liberal arts and in professional fields such as business, education, and nursing.

In the rankings, Florida Southern College improved on the quality indicators of freshman retention, freshmen in the Top 25 percent of their graduating high school class, student-to-faculty ratio, and peer assessment.