Montana State University recently earned the 255^th spot on Forbes’ “America’s Top Colleges” list, which was the highest rank earned by a public or private institution in Montana.

In addition to MSU, other Montana colleges and universities earning recognition on the list included Carroll College at number 269; Montana Tech of the University of Montana at number 373; the University of Montana at number 426; and Rocky Mountain College at number 602.

MSU also ranked higher than many of its peer universities in the West, including Washington State University, Utah State University, Colorado State University and Oregon State University.

MSU reported historic high growth in enrollment this week, with a record 15,294 students attending classes at MSU this fall. In addition, MSU continues to be the school of choice for many of the state’s best and brightest high school graduates: 127 of 211 Montana high school graduates offered Montana University System Honor Scholarships, or 60 percent, chose MSU.

The Forbes rankings are based on several factors, including student satisfaction, post-graduate success, student debt levels, graduation rates, and nationally competitive awards received, according to the publication.

Forbes partnered with the Washington, D.C.-based Center for College Affordability and Productivity to produce the list of 650 schools. More information, and the full list, is available at http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/.

With an enrollment of more than 14,000 students, MSU offers more than 125 major options within its colleges and programs. MSU is also designated as one of 108 universities—out of 4,600 institutions—with very high research activity by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Of those 108, only 51 – including MSU – are also classified by Carnegie as having significant commitment to community engagement. And of those, MSU is the only institution whose Carnegie enrollment profile is “very high undergraduate.”