New College in top 5 in national rankings

U.S. News & World Report ranked New College fifth in its 2009 listing of public liberal arts colleges. The magazine ranked the school 94th among all public and private liberal arts colleges in the country.

New College also earned a top spot from Forbes.com, which rated New College third among public colleges and 29th overall among public and private colleges.

Forbes also gave New College the top recognition among all colleges in the state of Florida.

New College, Florida's public honors college, has consistently earned top rankings in the past few years. Last year, New College earned the No. 4 spot in the U.S. News & World Report ranking.

The two rankings used graduation rates and student debt as factors. The Forbes ranking also included student feedback from popular Web sites like RateMyProfessor.com, where students can evaluate their professors.

The other schools included in the U.S. News & World Report ranking were the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, Virginia Military Institute and St. Mary's College of Maryland.

The Forbes top five also included the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of Virginia.