Dominican University is considered the best university in the Midwest for ensuring the social mobility of its graduates, according to the recently released U.S. News & World Report college rankings. The 2020 “Best Colleges” issue also ranked Dominican #11 out of 161 Midwest master’s level universities. Dominican has been among the top 20 of Midwest regional universities for more than two decades. The survey also listed Dominican within the top 15 Midwest universities for the quality of its undergraduate teaching. The report’s “Top Performers on Social Mobility” category, which is new this year, measures how well schools graduate students who receive federal Pell grants—those whose annual family incomes range from $20,000 to $50,000—compared to the graduation rate of students who do not receive Pell grants. U.S. News & World Report bases its rankings on a system that evaluates a number indicators of academic excellence, including graduation and retention rates, assessment by institutional peers and high school counselors, student selectivity, faculty resources, financial resources and alumni giving.