Willamette ranks No. 1 in the Northwest for value in U.S. News National University debut – Willamette University

Willamette ranks No. 1 in the Northwest for value in U.S. News National University debut  Willamette University

Willamette University ranks first in the Northwest and No. 86 nationally among Best Value Schools in its first-ever appearance in U.S. News & World Report’s National University category, according to the 2027 rankings released today. Willamette also placed No. 99 among private national universities and No. 208 overall on a list that includes every Ivy League institution, the country's flagship public research universities, and hundreds of institutions many times its size. Willamette is the only institution in the country to move from the National Liberal Arts College list to the National University list this year, a change driven by U.S. News's adoption of the American Council on Education's 2025 Carnegie Classification framework.

“It’s remarkable that in our very first year competing against the largest and most resourced universities in America, we're in the top 100 for value. That says something about what a Willamette education delivers,” said Steve Thorsett, president of Willamette University. The Best Value ranking weighs academic quality against the net cost students actually pay after grants and scholarships. That commitment to access was underscored earlier this month, when Willamette announced it will offer tuition-free education for Oregon students from families earning $80,000 or less. Willamette debuted in the very first U.S. News rankings in 1983 as the top-ranked regional university in the West, then spent four decades