The University of Nebraska-Lincoln strengthened its reputational and student outcomes metrics in the U.S. News & World Report rankings released Monday.

Nebraska ranked in the top third of national universities in measures of reputation, with improved recognition by college presidents, provosts and deans across the country of the strength of Nebraska’s academic programs.

UNL’s Student Outcomes ranking, an indicator based upon graduation and retention rates, also saw strong improvement.

“Student outcomes is the most important measure for us within the U.S. News rankings, so I’m proud to see an improved ranking there,” said Chancellor Ronnie Green. “It’s also rewarding to see other higher education leaders rank us in the top one-third of all national universities.”

“But let’s be honest, U.S. News rankings skew toward private universities with very selective enrollment. As a public land-grant university, that’s not who we are. We believe in the power of higher education to transform lives. Our tuition and fees are the lowest in the Big Ten, a tremendous academic alliance. We are committed to providing affordable access to that opportunity.”

This year, U.S. News added more than 80 universities, most of them well-endowed private institutions, to the list of national universities – continuing a trend of increasing the size of that group. Of those, eight private institutions debuted on the overall list ahead of UNL.

Nebraska was listed 64th among public colleges and universities; 115th on the Best Value Schools list; and was included among the Top 100 schools on the Best A+ Schools for B Students list.

UNL had lower rankings for financial and faculty resources. It’s worth noting that nearly two-thirds of the public universities that rank higher than Nebraska report along with their medical schools. Universities with medical or veterinary schools score better on U.S. News’ financial measures.

The rankings evaluate colleges across the nation based upon 15 indicators.