OSU Institute of Technology ranks among the top 20 Regional Colleges in the 2021 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Rankings.

OSUIT was recognized in three categories of the Regional Colleges-West in the recently released 2021 rankings: No. 5 in Top Public Schools, No. 8 in Top Performers on Social Mobility, up from No. 18 in the 2020 rankings, and No. 20 in Best Regional, up three spots from the 2020 rankings.

U.S. News defines the West, the largest geographical region in the rankings, to include 15 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

“OSUIT continues to climb in the rankings each year, and I couldn’t be more proud of our campus,” said President Bill R. Path. “Being recognized in the top 20 best colleges in 15 states, is quite an accomplishment.”

OSUIT was also included on the Least Debt list, which includes schools whose 2018 graduates had the lightest debt loads. OSUIT undergraduates who earn a bachelor's degree and received a federal loan carry a typical total debt after graduation of $12,000, the lowest in the state of Oklahoma.

"Our students see an immediate return on investment when attending OSUIT," said Dr. Ina Agnew, vice president of Student Services. "Students in our STEM programs participate in paid internships where a good number of them will earn what they paid in tuition."

Due to the high demand for graduates of OSUIT's technical programs, industry partners will often sponsor students by providing financial support, paid internships, loan reimbursement, etc. in return for a signed agreement that the graduate will work for them for a defined period of time, Agnew explained.

"Students either don't need to take out loans, or don't need to take out the full amount. It's a win-win situation," Agnew said. "Students know before they even take their first class where they will be working upon graduation."

This is the second consecutive year OSUIT was ranked in the Top Performers on Social Mobility category. This ranking takes into consideration that economically disadvantaged students are less likely than others to finish college, even when controlling for other characteristics.

It recognizes that some colleges are more successful than others at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants. The vast majority of these federal grants are awarded to students whose adjusted gross family incomes are under $50,000. In the fiscal year 2018-2019, OSUIT had 64% of undergraduates receiving Pell grants.

OSUIT was also recognized in the Campus Ethnic Diversity Regional Colleges-West rankings with a diversity index number of 0.58. U.S. News factors in the proportion of minority students, excluding international students, and the overall mix of groups among each institution’s fall 2019 total undergraduate student body. The formula produces a diversity index that ranges from 0 to 1. The closer a school’s number is to 1, the more diverse the student population and the more likely it is for students to interact with peers from different racial or ethnic groups.

The 2020 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings are calculated from 15 key measures of quality, including graduation and retention rates; social mobility; graduation rate performance; undergraduate academic reputation; faculty resources; student selectivity for the fall 2018 entering class; financial resources per student; and average alumni giving rate.