SIU’s Carbondale campus ranked among the top-25 best four-year colleges for adult learners in the Washington Monthly’s 2016 College Guide.

SIUC ranks 21 on the list — the highest in Illinois for public and private universities.

“For students, I think it recognizes the resilience of the population,” assistant dean of students Deborah Barnett said. “They are coming back to school in large numbers, and they are completing their degrees successfully.”

Washington Monthly classifies adult learners as students who are older than the age of 25.

The ranking lists seven criteria:

1. Ease of transfer
2. Flexibility of programs
3. Services for adult students
4. Tuition and fees
5. Students over the age of 25
6. Adult student median earnings
7. Loan repayment

SIUC received the maximum amount of points possible for three categories: ease of transfer, flexibility of programs and services for adult.

MORE: SIU community answers call for blood

Twenty percent of SIUC students are older than 25, according to Washington Monthly.

“It’s really more of a tip of the hat — recognizing what we do,” SIU spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith said. “But it’s all a nice signal to other people who might be considered adult learners or nontraditional students that we might have something to offer them here.”

Staff writer Cory Ray can be reached at 618-536-3326, [email protected] or on Twitter @coryray_DE.

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