TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida A&M University is on the rise in the rankings.
It jumped two spots to number seven among Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the U.S. News and World Reports Guidebook released this week.
And there was another win, FAMU recorded a 3.58 GPA for entering freshmen. That's the highest in the school's history and the university says it eventually wants to be number one among HBCU's.
FAMU officials say over the last couple of years, under FAMU President Larry Robinson, they have made that their main focus, which is fueling FAMU's rise in the college rankings.
"One example of that is over the past couple of years we have shown significant increases in our six year graduation rates and that is one of the measures used to evaluate schools in the rankings," said Maurice Eddington, Provost, V.P. Academic Affairs at FAMU.
Part of that success is due to FAMU's history of recruiting high achieving students. University leaders say they have stressed the recruitment of college ready students, publicized it across the nation, and offered incentives.
"We have a very strategic focus on decreasing student debt and having very high achieving students that are eligible for scholarships from our donors and our corporate donors also assist in that process," said Dr. William Hudson Jr., V.P. of Student Affairs at FAMU.
And there's more, those students have opportunities for internships with Fortune 500 companies and opportunities for research with FAMU's world-renowned faculty and staff.
FAMU officials say with a faculty and staff invested in student's success, the sky's the limit.
"We feel that this year's outcome in US News speak loud and clear that FAMU offers a high quality education experience and our efforts are being noted," said Eddington.
FAMU officials say they have three projects in the works geared toward attracting more high achieving students: a new 700-bed residence facility, the CASS Building, and a student lead amphitheater.
