U.S. News ranks Bloomfield College as a top school in social mobility, diversity

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Bloomfield College has been recognized as a top college in U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 Best Colleges rankings in several national and state categories.

Among 223 national liberal arts institutions, Bloomfield College was ranked highest in the state of New Jersey in the social mobility category, and No. 27 nationally; the campus ethnic diversity category, and No. 25 nationally; and the Economic Diversity category, and No. 1 in the Northeast and No. 13 nationally.

In addition, Bloomfield College is named by U.S. News & World Report 2022 Best Colleges rankings as No. 7 in New Jersey in the publisher’s first-ever undergraduate nursing programs category.

“Bloomfield College’s continual recognition as an institutional leader in creating social mobility opportunities and outcomes for our students affirms the commitment of our dedicated faculty and staff who teach and mentor our bright and hardworking students who go on to become lifelong learners well-equipped to make a positive impact in their communities,” college President Marcheta P. Evans said. “The college’s nursing program accolade is an endorsement of the distinctive academic quality of learning that students experience in the Frances M. McLaughlin Division of Nursing. What’s more, the new recognitions in the ethnic diversity and economic diversity categories tell the story of the success of the diverse student populations Bloomfield serves within the state of New Jersey and nationally.”

The social mobility ranking measures how well schools graduated large proportions of economically and educationally disadvantaged federal Pell Grant student recipients. Federal Pell Grants are typically awarded to students whose adjusted gross family incomes are less than $50,000 — though most recipients have a total family income of less than $20,000. The ranking also included an assessment of student indebtedness.

The campus ethnic diversity ranking measures how likely each student is to encounter undergraduates from racial and ethnic groups different from their own, excluding international students, as colleges do not report each international student’s ethnicity separately. Studies show diversity on college campuses improves intellectual and cultural engagement among students and faculty.

The economic diversity ranking recognizes schools with the largest percentages of undergraduates receiving federal Pell Grants, highlighting the best available gauge of an institution’s relative commitment to educational access for all.

The nursing programs ranking is based solely on the judgments of deans and senior faculty members of nursing schools and departments at institutions around the country. They reviewed the academic quality of undergraduate, accredited programs that awarded at least 35 Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees, as reported in the 2018-2019 data from the IPEDS Data Center.

Bloomfield College is the only New Jersey institution to be recognized as both a predominantly black institution and a Hispanic-serving institution, and is also a minority-serving institution. In addition, more than half of the student community identify themselves as first-generation college students. Bloomfield College offers the lowest full-time tuition rate for any private four-year college or university in New Jersey.