Online Education

OEDb Releases 2009 Online College Rankings

Houston, TX (PRWEB) January 6, 2009 -- OEDb (Online Education Database) released its third annual Online College Rankings (http://oedb.org/rankings) earlier today. OEDb's Online College Rankings 2009 ranks 44 undergraduate colleges and universities that offer most or all of their degree programs online. OEDb.org has millions of visitors each year, and hundreds of thousands of potential students turn to these rankings each year when considering online study.

Nova Southeastern University topped this year's rankings, followed by Regent University and Champlain College. The remaining schools in the top ten include: Upper Iowa University, LeTourneau University, Liberty University, Grand Canyon University, Dickinson State University, Salem International University, and Keiser, respectively. Other online schools ranked in the top 20 include: Western Governors University, Fisher College, National University, Walden University, Tiffin University, Westwood College, ITT Technical Institute, Post University, Colorado Technical University, and Everglades University, respectively.

OEDb's rankings are based on data derived from eight different metrics: acceptance rate, financial aid, graduation rate, peer Web citations, retention rate, scholarly citations, student-faculty ratio, and years accredited. The resulting ranking accumulates the average ranking in each metric for which data was available.

Many people are heading back to school in response to the suffering economy, and online education is growing in popularity due to its flexible, portable, and cost-effective nature. However, the reputation of online education is still somewhat affected by questions of accreditation and course rigor.

OEDb aims to settle these questions and make online education more transparent with objective rankings that compare the leading accredited online colleges. OEDb spokesperson Ashley Merusi said, "OEDb's annual Online College Rankings are a valuable asset to students considering online education. During these challenging financial times, it is more important than ever that students make sure they are getting a valuable education for their tuition dollar. We recognize the top 20 schools as the leading degree-granting online institutions."

OEDb's Online College Rankings 2009 is available at http://oedb.org/rankings. OEDb published its first rankings in 2007 and strives each year to improve the rankings by adding new colleges, increasing its data set as more information becomes available, and evolving alongside online education.

Founded in 2006, OEDb: Online Education Database is dedicated to providing comprehensive reviews of accredited online colleges and universities and the degree programs they offer. OEDb is headquartered in Houston, Texas and privately owned and operated.

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