Which Kentucky Colleges Rank as Among the Best?

For years, the Washington Monthly's College Rankings have been putting the U.S. News list to shame. That's because the Monthly ranks colleges according  to how well the colleges educate their students at reasonable cost, and how much the colleges benefit the entire country through research, service, graduating the poor and turning out students who land good, middle-class or better-paid jobs..

Berea College has consistently been the Monthly's number one liberal arts college in the nation, but Kentucky's other private colleges and its state universities have never ranked in the top 100 in their categories.

Until now.

In 2013, for the first time, the Monthly ranked the nation's 1,011 community colleges.  And two in Kentucky - in Eastern Kentucky - ranked in the top 50.

Southeastern Community and Technical College in Cumberland, Kentucky, ranked number 13.  Ashland Community and Technical College ranked number 43. 

Don't ever let anybody tell you Eastern Kentucky is poor soil for good education.

Flagship schools the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville don't even come close, ranking at 190 and 180, respectively, among national universities

Here's the ranking of the top 50 community colleges in the nation.

And here's the full issue.