Kansas University has been ranked in the top 100 public colleges in America by The Business Journals. Ranked at No. 74, KU was the only school in Kansas to break the top 100.

“It is always positive to receive recognition such as this and to be the only Kansas school in the top 100,” said Jack Martin, director of strategic communications for KU.

The Business Journals gives schools an overall ranking based on a 19-part formula that is broken down into six categories: selectivity, advancement, prestige, costs, diversity and community. The report also provides the data used to arrive at the ranking, such as admission rate, retention rate or unemployment rate for young adults. This transparency in the ranking process is important, Martin said.

“The factors considered are all visible for folks to see, so it’s not black-box factors like they sometimes are (with other rankings),” he said.

The Business Journals analyzed 484 public colleges and ranked the top 250 by giving each a rating based off scores in the six categories, the highest score being five stars. The University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia were the three highest ranked schools.

KU received three stars in selectivity, three stars in advancement, four stars in prestige, three stars in costs, four stars in diversity and five stars in community, according to the report. Martin said KU will continue focusing on those factors it can improve.

“We can work on things like graduation rates, and hopefully other positive recognition will follow,” he said.

The Business Journals used data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Prestige ratings were based on college rankings from Forbes, Kiplinger’s, U.S. News and World Report and Washington Monthly.