In a report focused on university achievement, U.S. News ranked UNCW 16^th in the 2016 edition of Best Colleges in Regional Universities (South) based on ranking indicators of 2014 and 2015 data.

The report broke down UNCW into categories including application, academic life, campus services, and cost and financial aid. Within each category, the report showed the statistics of the university and its rankings among its competitors.

The application category listed that the university has a lower in-state-tuition and fees price at $6,647, whereas other universities such as the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill costs $8,562 and North Carolina State University costs $8,581, and has a 58.6 percent acceptance rate.

Within academic life, UNCW has a student to professor ration of 17:1 and 30.2 percent of the school’s classes have fewer than 20 students. Also the average freshman retention rate is 85.5 percent.

“I really enjoyed my freshman year so I am not surprised that so many freshmen chose to stay here,” said UNCW sophomore Hannah Daley. “I especially liked how much attention each professor could give me because of the class sizes.”

Under campus services, the report focused on campus safety and security services like 24-hour foot and vehicle patrols, late night transport and escort service, 24-hour emergency telephones, lighted pathways, and controlled dormitory access.

A lot of crime reduction on UNCW’s campus relies on education according to UNCW Police Department Crime Analyst Charles Bost.

The most prevalent crime on campus is burglary and larceny, according to Bost, which has even been stemmed by creating secured areas. Bost said “…burglary requires breaking into a secured area and so what [UNCW police] have done for burglary is securing property.”

Campus Police relies on educating students on how to avoid this common crime, especially when it comes to bicycle theft. Bost said that cops will go out and do programs that show how to properly lock up bicycles and the dangers of leaving valuables around unsecured.

These educational endeavors have led to a drastic drop in larceny cases on UNCW’s campus. However, education does not only pertain to burglary and larceny. The university has worked on educating students on dealing with sexual assault crimes.

UNCW teaches classes like Rape Aggression Defense for sexual assault prevention and also has initiatives like the SOAR: Bystander Intervention that discuss people intervening when they see sexual crimes happening. Bost said that programs like these just promote “not making yourself a soft target” and being a “good neighbor” when you see someone else in trouble.

With this emphasis on education, sexually charged crimes actually went up due to people being more conscientious and reporting crimes, which are usually unreported. Bost said that the department wants to create an environment on the campus where people are more comfortable reporting crimes.

“Education seems to be making an impact with trying to reduce crime,” Bost said, “so we plan to continue to [educate].”

For cost and financial aid, the report stated that according to 2014 data 54.9 percent of full-time undergraduates receive some kind of need-based financial aid and the average need-based scholarship or grant award is $2,427.

Interim Director of the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid Frederik Holding described “need- based” as generally grants and some scholarships.  Many scholarships are a reward for merit or special talent while some go to students who solely need.  Need is calculated by a formula that subtracts the Expected Family Contribution or EFC from the Cost of Attendance or COA.

“UNCW’s Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid is committed to assisting students and families through the financial aid process,” Holding said. “We seek to educate students and high school counselors during outreach opportunities, UNCW recruitment events, and through one-on-one contact.  Our counselors guide families through financial aid options and we work to keep up-to-date resources for all on our website and social media platforms.”

Overall, the report said that UNCW, in comparison to similar regional schools, offers several great qualities and opportunities. “I think UNCW is ultimately a great school,” Daley said, “but [the school] still has a lot of opportunities for improvement.”