USNews.com: America's Best Colleges 2008

Baccalaureate Colleges

These institutions focus primarily on undergraduate education just as the liberal arts colleges do but grant fewer than 50 percent of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines. They also offer a range of programs in professional fields such as business, nursing and education. At these schools, at least 10 percent of undergraduate degrees awarded are bachelor's degrees. There are 320 comprehensive colleges, ranked within four regions: North, South, Midwest, and West. Like all U.S. News categories, the groupings are derived from the basic classification framework established by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2006.

Top Schools:

The top 50 percent of schools in this category, ranked numerically

Tier 3 Schools:

The next 25 percent of schools in this category, listed alphabetically

Tier 4 Schools:

The bottom 25 percent of schools in this category, listed alphabetically

Unranked Schools

The schools in this category have not been ranked, listed alphabetically

Best Values:

Schools that are above average academically and cost significantly less than many when the financial aid, in the form of need-based grants that they dispense, is taken into account