A Banner Year – New Accolades for American College of Education

We’re not even half way through 2017 yet, and it’s already been a very rewarding year for ACE!  

If you’ll allow us to humblebrag for just a second on the impact we’re making in education and our community, we’d love to share some recent awards with you because you’re part of what makes ACE so special (our students and alumni!) and because, without you, we wouldn’t even qualify for the accolades we’ve received.

U.S. News & World Report – Best Online Graduate Education Programs

Each year, U.S. News releases a ranked list of the Best Online Programs in the country, and ACE was included on this year’s list for Best Online Graduate Education Programs–our bread and butter. 

To determine who qualified for this year’s award, the U.S. News & World Report team looked at things like accreditation, admissions selectivity, and academic and career support services offered to students.

Best Places to Work in Indiana

We’re particularly proud to be included in this year’s list of Best Places to Work in Indiana because ensuring our students are getting the best quality education starts by making sure our employees are engaged in their work and feel valued both for their contributions and as individuals. Earning this designation means we’re on the right track!

Every year, Best Companies Group surveys employers and their employees to gather detailed data about each company that wants to participate in the program. 

To cap off our inclusion in this year’s list, ACE will attend a dinner event in May to reveal who has won the “top” prize as Indiana’s Best Place to Work. We’re excited to celebrate with fellow winners next month!

B Corp Certification

You’ve probably already heard about this new designation, because we’ve been shouting it from the rooftops in excitement! We recently completed an intensive application process to receive our B Corp status. B Corp is a movement to redefine success in business as companies who aren’t just the best in the world, but the best for the world. 

B Corp-certified companies are certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Today, there is a growing community of more than 2,076 certified B Corporations across 130 industries in 50 countries working together toward one unifying goal: to redefine success in business.

We’re now both a Certified B Corp, and we reincorporated as a Benefit Corporation. In truth, this doesn’t really change what you already know about us–we make decisions about our growth and financial health with our students best interests in mind, not our bottom line. Or in other words, we believe in people over profit. Our B Corp efforts are a public commitment to continue the dedication we’ve already demonstrated to our students, alumni, and employees over the last decade.

“University Research & Review, Best Value School” 

Although we’ve always known our degree programs are the most affordable on the market, it’s wonderful to have someone else recognize our unique combination of true affordability and quality as well. 

We were one of the schools who made this year’s list of Best Value Schools* in the country, reserved for those institutions that meet certain criteria in cost, student experience, student debt load, graduation rate, etc. What makes this award so special is the weight the evaluation process places on student feedback and satisfaction–which means our students and alumni were essential in helping us earn this award! 

Once named to the Best Value list, schools must be re-evaluated annually to continue to carry the Best Value designation. 

*The organization being designated a “Best Value School” has met certain criteria based on URR Findings, including affordability, assessment by current and former students, unique qualities, debt levels upon graduation, time required to graduate, and job prospects, among other characteristics.  Your experiences may vary. The Findings are proprietary to URR and have not been influenced by the subject school or its representatives. For more details, visit bestvaluecolleges.org

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We’re so honored to reach these achievements, and we’re thankful to the dedicated employees and ardent fans we have in our students and alums who’ve helped make ACE the great school we’ve become. 
 
But we also want to know what you think about these developments! Do these awards influence your decision to attend a certain school? Do they change your opinion or perception of ACE as a college? Do they make you feel any differently about your choice to attend ACE, or the education you receive with us? Let us know!