05/06/16 sry
HAYS, Kan. - With more than 20 years of experience and constant recognition by online ranking sites -- this time recognizing hospitality, teacher education, management, nursing, marketing, computer science and psychology virtual degree programs -- there is no doubt that Fort Hays State University and its Virtual College are leaders in valuable and affordable online education.

When ranking degree programs, researchers do not look at tuition costs alone but also graduation rates, faculty-student ratios, accreditations, location and quality of faculty. Information typically comes from the school's website, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and U.S. News and World Report.

BestColleges.com
No. 7, Best Online Programs Hospitality Management
For a second consecutive year, BestColleges ranks FHSU's B.S. in tourism and hospitality management program among the top 10 best online programs in its field.

To view this ranking, navigate to www.BestColleges.com > Rankings > Academic Programs > Best Online Programs Hospitality Management.

"The tourism and hospitality program, which began in 2008, has continued to grow and develop its curriculum and opportunities for students, so the recognition means a lot," said Dr. Stacey Smith, associate professor of management and director of the tourism and hospitality program at FHSU. "The program offers a variety of courses with the newest offering being a concentration in health and wellness tourism, which is a growing aspect of the industry."

ToBecomeATeacher.org
Compared to the rest of the schools in Kansas, ToBecomeATeacher ranks FHSU not only as the most affordable but also with the highest ROI. ToBecomeATeacher has a complex algorithmic tool that uses 2015 data to analyze total expense, student-faculty ratios, graduation rates, potential earnings and return on investment.

"Our review algorithm discovered that among all the schools we reviewed, Fort Hays State University is among the best in the entire state," said Tim Charlet, editor. "The school was among the top-ranked schools in several categories, including return on investment, graduation rate and the total expense score."

To view these rankings, navigate to www.ToBecomeATeacher.com > State > KS Kansas.

No. 3, Best Bachelor's Education Programs, Kansas
FHSU offers a variety of online Master's programs related to education:
• B.S. in business education with a business teacher licensure, corporate communications or training and development emphases.
• B.S. in education with an early childhood unified, elementary or special education emphases.

No. 2, Best Master's Education Programs, Kansas
FHSU offers a variety of online Master's programs related to education:
• M.S. in counseling, school counseling emphases.
• M.S. in education with a higher education-student affairs, English for speakers of other languages, library media specialist, reading specialist, JROTC instructor prep or higher education student affairs emphases, and also a transition to teaching alternative certification.
• M.S. in education administration (principal).
• M.S. in nursing education.

CollegeChoice.net
No. 13, Best Online Bachelor of Nursing Degree Programs, 2016
CollegeChoice ranks FHSU's B.S. in nursing No. 13 in its top 50 online nursing programs ranking. FHSU beat out the University of Nebraska, Ball State University, Western Governors University, Arizona State University and Pennsylvania State University.

To view this ranking, navigate to www.CollegeChoice.net > Rankings > Online Rankings > Best Online Bachelor of Nursing Degree Programs, 2016.

AffordableSchools.net
No.13, Top 20 Affordable Online Bachelor's Degrees in Marketing
FHSU's virtual B.B.A. in marketing is No. 13 in an article titled "20 Affordable Online Bachelor's Degrees in Marketing." The ranking is based on the yearly net price of the online program.

To view this ranking, navigate to www.AffordableSchools.net > School Rankings > By Subject: 20 Affordable Online Bachelor's Degrees in Marketing.

"The article has a number of discovery features to improve the college search process for degree seekers," said Amitav Dash, researcher and writer for AfforableSchools. "This includes a scrollable occupations list, scrollable curriculum courses/topics list, statistical summary of relevant NCES data, alpha-sorted data table of colleges ranked, an interactive tuition/net price comparison chart, an interactive dashboard for each college, and a custom circular chart that allows the reader to simultaneously compare all 20 schools for multiple data points - a feature that, by itself, can reduce college-research search time."

No. 18, Top 20 Affordable Online Bachelor's Degrees in Computer Science/IT
B.S. and B.A. in information networking and telecommunications
B.S. in computer science
The B.S. in computer science and the B.A. and B.S. in Information Networking and Telecommunications online programs at FHSU rank No. 18 in the country.

To view this ranking, navigate to www.AffordableSchools.net > School Rankings > By Subject: 20 Affordable Online Bachelor's Degrees in Computer Science/IT.

Majors in the Information Networking and Telecommunications program at FHSU can concentrate in either computer networking and telecommunications, health informatics or Web development.

This summer, FHSU's computer science program becomes fully available online. Students can follow the business or networking track.

The field of computer science is growing faster than normal, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and according to AffordableSchools, there is more than one-hundred different computer and IT related occupations. FHSU's virtual computer science programs offer a variety of tracks depending on a student's interests.

CollegeValuesOnline.com
No. 27, Online Psychology Degree Programs: More Values
CollegeValuesOnline identifies FHSU's B.S. and B.A. in psychology as the 27th best college for an online psychology degree based on value, beating out No. 28 Pennsylvania State University. CollegeValuesOnline considered graduation rates along with tuition rates by using the NCES College Navigator Database.

To view this ranking, navigate to www.CollegeValuesOnline.com > Rankings > Online Psychology Degree Programs: More Values.

"College Values Online's mission is to provide assistance in selecting the best college for each individual situation by offering rankings of schools and various degree programs, in addition to information on numerous career options from a value perspective," said Jamie Bond, communications manager of CollegeValuesOnline.

AffordableCollegesOnline.org
FHSU is recognized for offering "one of the most notable combinations of academic quality, accommodation, guidance and affordability across several programs," said Megan Filbin, director of communications at AffordableCollegesOnline.

AffordableCollegesOnline uses a formula that takes into consideration tuition rate, degrees available, student-faculty ration, graduation rate, financial aid recipients, campus resources, acceptance rate, job placement and loan default rate.

No. 14, Best Online Master's in Counseling Degrees
FHSU's online M.S. in counseling received a score of 86.75 out of 100, beating out other colleges in the nation but also Washburn University and Emporia State University in Kansas.

To view this ranking, navigate to www.AffordableCollegesOnline.org > Degrees > Master's > Counseling.

No. 16, Best Online Master's in Psychology Degrees
FHSU's online M.S. in psychology tied with Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus with a 92 out of 100 score.

To view this ranking, navigate to www.AffordableCollegesOnline.org > Degrees > Master's > Psychology.

No. 19, Best Online Master's in Special Education Degrees
FHSU's M.S. in special education received a 90.5 out of 100 score beating out Pittsburg State University, the University of Kansas, Texas A&M University, Michigan State University, Kentucky State University and the University of Nebraska.

To view this ranking, navigate to www.AffordableCollegesOnline.org > Degrees > Master's > Special Education.