The college advanced 13 places -- to No. 56 -- on the overall list of public and private regional universities in the North.

     Oswego is No. 14 on the U.S. News accounting of the best public institutions in the Northern region this round, up from No. 16 previously.

     In other rankings, last month Washington Monthly recognized Oswego in the top 100 master's-level institutions nationally. Washington Monthly looks at "contribution to the public good," and Oswego does well there due in part to a strong record in civic engagement and success in sending students on to doctoral programs.

     The magazine puts SUNY Oswego in the top 50 public master's-level institutions nationwide and at No. 95 among all 684 master's-level colleges and universities, public and private, that the magazine ranked.

     Meanwhile, Princeton Review in August again included Oswego among best Northeastern colleges. Oswego is one of 226 colleges the company chose for the "Best in the Northeast" section of its website feature "2015 Best Colleges: Region by Region." 

     Regional "best" colleges make up the top 25 percent of the nation's four-year colleges. "From hundreds of institutions we considered in each region, we selected these schools primarily for their excellent academic programs," said Robert Franek, senior vice president and publisher at Princeton Review.

     More from U.S. News

     Oswego tied for No. 56 among regional universities in the North with Chatham, Mercyhurst and St. Francis universities, all in Pennsylvania.

     U.S. News also selected Oswego for its "A-Plus Schools for B Students" list, as it has in recent years. The A-plus list in New York includes such schools as Syracuse University, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY's university centers at Albany, Buffalo and Stony Brook, and Ithaca and Nazareth colleges.

     The media group's "America's Best Colleges" guide ranks nearly 1,400 colleges nationwide, compared on a set of performance indicators. The weighted criteria for ranking are: peer assessment, 22.5 percent; graduation and retention rates, 22.5 percent; faculty resources, 20 percent; student selectivity, 12.5 percent; financial resources, 10 percent; the difference between predicted and actual graduation rates, 7.5 percent; and alumni giving, 5 percent.

     Oswego's statistics held steady year to year, with the most notable improvement in peer assessment, an area where Oswego has always performed well but did better than ever this year. Oswego's peer assessment of 3.0 was equal to or better than 76 of the 100 institutions listed as top regional universities in the North.

     "Again this year, we are proud to see so many of our SUNY campuses recognized as being among the best nationally by U.S. News and World Report," said SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher. “In every community across New York State, SUNY colleges and universities like Oswego offer students top quality degree programs and applied learning opportunities that prepare them for success in today's 21st century global economy."