— For sixth consecutive year, Louisiana Tech is recognized among top National Universities —U.S. News & World Report has ranked Louisiana Tech University in its highest tier of “National Universities” for the sixth consecutive year, according to its 2017 Best Colleges list released Tuesday.Louisiana Tech and Louisiana State University were the only two public institutions in the state to achieve a Tier One National Universities designation. Tulane University (private) also earned a Tier One National University ranking. Louisiana Tech landed at No. 202 out of the over 230 institutions to achieve Tier One status on the 2017 Best Colleges list. Louisiana Tech’s overall score increased by six points over last year, primarily as a result of a rise in its peer assessment score and freshman retention rate.Princeton University retained the No. 1 spot on the National Universities list followed by Harvard University, Yale University and University of Chicago (tied for No. 3), and Columbia University and Stanford University (tied for No. 5).“The recognition we continue to receive from organizations like U.S. News & World Report is a strong indication of the national impacts we are making and the unparalleled educational experience we are providing for students that enroll at Louisiana Tech,” said Louisiana Tech President Les Guice. “The foundation of these achievements is our faculty and staff who have embraced our vision for the future and dedicated themselves to serving our campus community.“I am grateful for all their contributions and their commitment to graduating students who will represent Louisiana Tech and the next generation of leaders and innovators for our state and nation.”Louisiana Tech’s Tier One National University ranking comes on the heels of being named Louisiana’s best institution by MONEY’s 2016 Best Colleges report released in July. Louisiana Tech also received international recognition last month when Times Higher Education and World University Rankings identified Tech as one of 20 universities in the world and just one of nine universities in the U.S. that could “challenge the elite universities” and become globally renowned by the year 2030.In addition to its overall U.S. News & World Report ranking, Louisiana Tech’s place among the nation’s Top Public Universities rose from No. 119 last year to No. 110. Tech also earned national rankings for its undergraduate engineering programs (No. 135) and undergraduate business programs (No. 248).U.S. News & World Report assessed more than 1,600 four-year colleges and universities across the country, and classified over 300 as “National Universities.” Based on categories developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, “National Universities” include institutions that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and Ph.D. programs, and emphasize faculty research. The Carnegie classification has served as the basis for the Best Colleges ranking category system since the first rankings were done in 1983.Several key measures of quality are used to analyze and rank schools including assessment of excellence as defined by feedback from academic peers and high school guidance counselors, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance which is defined by the difference between actual and predicted graduation rates, and alumni giving. Scores for each measure are weighted to determine a final overall score.For the complete U.S. News & World Report 2017 Best Colleges list, visit http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges