BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Two of Baton Rouge's public colleges were listed in the top 500 of U.S. News' Best National Universities.

According to the 2026 rankings, LSU ranks at No. 169, tied with nine other universities, and Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge ranks between No. 395 and 434.

For decades, U.S. News has reported collegiate rankings. Through those years, researchers have used up to 17 factors to determine each university's rating. Researchers use: • graduation rates • first-year retention rates • graduation rate performance • PELL graduation rates • PELL graduation performance • college grads earning more than high school grads • borrower debt • peer assessment • financial resources per student • faculty salaries • full-time fa

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