DANVILLE (WSLS 10) - Averett University is one of the top 20 best colleges in the south.
That's according to the latest rankings from U.S. News & World Reports.
Averett ranked number 20 among southern Liberal Arts colleges. That is the university's highest ranking ever.
Averett also ranked number nine for southern colleges for veterans.
Stacy Gato, the university's vice president of enrollment management, says it's not shocking to see the university receive such high rankings.
"I think it's very affirming for the great work that the whole university has been doing over the past several years."
Elaborating, she explained that the university is continuing to try to become as student centered as possible.
"I truly believe that we ranked so high this year because of the great work that we're doing around student centeredness," Gato said. "We really are working hard to, as I stated, put the students at the center. That's around the enrollment process, around the retention rates."
Only three Virginia institutions made U.S. News and World Report's list of best regional Liberal Arts colleges for 2017 and Averett was the only one to rank in the top 20.