The University of Houston is becoming an important player in higher education, as evidenced by its first ever spot on the U.S. News & World Report's 2013 Best Colleges Rankings. And the school's ready to celebrate.

On Wednesday morning, UH president Renu Khator tweeted,

UH moves from unranked to being ranked in US News & World Report for first time . . . reward for our focus on student success! — Renu Khator (@UHpres) September 12, 2012

It's nowhere near the stature of Harvard or Princeton, which tied for No. 1 among the Best National Universities, a ranking based on individual missions and 16 indicators of academic excellence, such as student body, faculty, financial resources and outcome measures.

UH isn't in the same rarified air as Houston's smaller, more exclusive Rice University, which shares the title of No. 17 in the nation with University of Notre Dame and Vanderbilt University. Rice is a regular fixture in these rankings.

But the University of Houston does now rank No. 184th in the nation, thanks low tuition and fees ($9,211 for in-state students), an undergraduate enrollment of 31,764 and a 63.6 percent acceptance rate. The magazine only ranks 199 colleges with the rest declared unranked.

UH's number seems destined to rise even further in the future, with recent Tier One affirmation and much more in store.