America's Christian colleges and universities have long played a vital role in educating the nation's future leaders. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that there are almost 600 Christian-affiliated colleges and universities across the country. Even many of our most well-known universities, like Harvard, were founded as Christian-oriented institutions of higher learning. Paine College is proud to be part of that rich tradition, which is why we are so pleased to announce that Paine has been ranked #15 on the list of the Best Christian Colleges in Georgia for 2019-2020.

The rankings come courtesy of EDsmart, which assessed Georgia's Christian colleges based on four main factors, including:

· The average net price of tuition

· The rate at which students successfully graduate

· Overall retention rate, used to determine student satisfaction

· Post-college financial success, determined by assessing the median income of former students ten years after they stepped foot on campus

According to EDsmart, its rankings are designed to assist students in their efforts to find the right Christian college for their needs by providing information about affordability and overall educational value.

The list includes many well-known Georgia Christian colleges, including top-ranked Emory University, which was ranked as the best Christian college in the U.S. for 2019. Agnes State College, Covenant College, Wesleyan College, and Truett McConnell University rounded out the top five on EDsmart's list.

In recognizing Paine College as #15 on that list of the Best Christian Colleges in Georgia for 2019-2020, EDsmart noted that we have also been ranked #58 on the list of the Best Historically Black Colleges and Universities. EDsmart acknowledged Paine's commitment to not only providing the educational opportunities students need, but also working to reinforce the strong spiritual principles those students will need to achieve well-balanced lives and long-term success.

As we continue Paine College's resurgence, we always appreciate those organizations and entities that take the time to acknowledge our efforts. Of course, this ranking was only made possible through the hard work and dedication of our wonderful students, faculty, staff, and alumni – and the ongoing support of the broader community in which Paine operates. Like everything else that we accomplish here at Paine College, this is an achievement that our entire extended school family can celebrate.

Rest assured, however, that this is just the beginning. Our dedication to serving our area's academic scholars will continue, and we will strive to do an even better job of helping them realize their life and career goals. And as we do so, we will continue to provide a spiritually-nourishing environment that helps our students as they work to become the very best versions of themselves.

In short, we're proud of everyone who helped Paine College earn this prestigious honor, and we thank all of you for working so hard to hep us achieve it. At the same time, we encourage everyone in the Paine College family to continue to look to the future and strive to make our school an even better place for academic scholars to achieve their full potential.

For more information about Paine College, visit www.paine.edu or contact the Office of Communications and Marketing at 706.821.8323, Hcarter@paine.edu.