Spring Hill, Mobile among top 30 regional universities in new U.S. News & World Report rankings on Astini News

MOBILE, Alabama -- Spring Hill College is ranked No. 17, while the University of Mobile came in at No. 30 among regional universities, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2012 college rankings.

"We appreciate the recognition by U.S. News & World Report in Best Regional Colleges," said University of Mobile spokeswoman Kathy Dean. "College rankings such as this one are simply one of many tools prospective students have to help make the very personal decision about what school is the best fit for their college experience," she said.

The University of South Alabama and the University of Southern Mississippi both had rankings that were not published, according to the annual report.

The report only ranks the top 200; everything after that is in alphabetical order.

"U.S. News and World Report this year has moved the University of South Alabama from the Regional University category to the National University designation, which it describes as institutions that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, master's and doctoral degrees, and are committed to producing groundbreaking research," said USA spokesman Keith Ayers. "This category change recognizes the rapid growth of USA's teaching, research, service and health care programs."

The University of Alabama ranks No. 31, and Auburn University ranks No. 36 among public universities.

UA moved up from No. 34 last year, to hold the lead for the second year running over Auburn, which was No. 38 last year. For several years prior, the two schools had jockeyed back and forth in the magazine's annual rankings.

"Once again, we are pleased with this national recognition of our academic programs," UA President Robert Witt said in a news release. "The quality of our students and our faculty and staff has never been higher, and our growing enrollment is a clear indicator that the educational experience at the University of Alabama is meeting the needs of our students and their parents."

The University of Alabama at Birmingham also rose, ranking No. 73 for public universities over last year's 79. The University of Alabama in Huntsville dropped 11 spots to No. 108.

When compared with all national universities, UA ranks No. 75 and Auburn ranks No. 82.

Birmingham-Southern College, which has been in financial crisis, dropped nine spots to No. 102 among national liberal arts colleges.

Samford University, which had been ranked as a national university since 2009, switched back to the "regional universities," where it came in at No. 4 for the South. School officials said a change in the classification of doctoral degrees caused the category shift. The school was also ranked sixth among regional universities in the South in the magazine's "Great Schools, Great Price" list.

"Rankings are just one, albeit a very public, way to measure the true success of any university," Samford President Andrew Westmoreland said in a news release. "This shift in our U.S. News ranking does not change Samford's mission as a comprehensive university with nationally-recognized, rigorous academic programs."

University of Montevallo was ranked at No. 36.

Tuskegee University ranks No. 17 in the category of regional colleges; Huntingdon College came in at No. 21 on that list.

The top five universities nationally were Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia and the California Institute of Technology.

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This story was co-authored by Hannah Wolfson of The Birmingham News