CSB, SJU both ranked highly in Money Magazine’s list of top colleges for 2015-16

Both the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University were rated highly in Money Magazine's list of the top colleges in the United States for 2015-16.

Saint John's ranked No. 71 and Saint Benedict ranked No. 181 on the overall list, which was released July 13. A total of 736 private and public schools were ranked in the poll, with Stanford University being the top-ranked college.

Among Minnesota colleges, SJU was the second-highest school ranked and CSB was the fourth-highest ranked school. Both CSB and SJU were rated ahead of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, St. Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus, St. Thomas and Macalester, among others.

In addition to the overall ranking, both CSB and SJU were rated in several other areas by the magazine.

• CSB and SJU were cited as among the top liberal arts colleges in the nation. A total of 50 school were ranked in this category, with Harvey Mudd College of Claremont, California, ranked first in this category.
• SJU was rated No. 1 and CSB No. 3 among the best private colleges for Merit Aid. A total of 25 schools were ranked in this category.
• Saint John's was also ranked No. 10 among the best colleges that students "can actually get into." A total of 50 schools were ranked in this category, with Texas A&M University in College Station No. 1.
  

This was the second edition of Money Magazine college rankings.

According to author Jeffrey Selingo in the Washington Post newspaper, Money Magazine tried to answer questions "that prospective students should be asking on their college tours this summer: What is the graduation rate, net price (what's the real tuition they'll pay), how much do they and their parents have to borrow in loans, and will they learn any marketable skills that will help them get a job in order to pay back those loans?"