KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – A trio of schools in East Tennessee institutes of higher education have made the 2009-2010 Forbes.com list of America’s Best Colleges.

Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City was the top ranked of the three at 110th. The Baptist liberal arts college current has around 2,000 students and costs $26,750 per year to attend.

The college was ranked as the fourth best of 12 Tennessee schools on the list. They were ranked as follows with their national ranking in parentheses:

1. Rhodes College (62)
2. Vanderbilt University (77)
3. Sewanee University of the South (94)
4. Carson-Newman College (110)
5. Maryville College (184)
6. Union University (278)
7. Middle Tennessee State University (298)
8. Fisk University (309)
9. University of Memphis (417)
10. University of Tennessee, Knoxville (422)
11. Belmont University (532)
12. Christian Brothers University (537)

Forbes said it started with more than 4,000 schools and then whittle them down to the top 600 best undergraduate institutions. The data was collected and assessed using the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. Several factors went into the rankings including graduates listed in 2008’s “Who’s Who in America”, graduate salaries complied by PayScale.com, student appraisals of faculty gathered from RateMyProfessors.com, and a typical student’s four-year debt load.

Using their criteria, the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York was named the nation’s top college.
Other ratings of note included the University of Alabama at 441, University of Florida at 186 and University of Georgia at 211 and University of Kentucky at 545.

You can read the rankings and methodology by clicking on the link below: