Birmingham’s Samford University is ranked third in U.S News and World Report’s annual Best Regional University-South Rankings for 2014, released on Tuesday.

Samford is a Christian college that was founded in 1841 and grown to become the largest private university in Alabama. The school was ranked fourth in last year’s News and World Report rankings.

This year, Samford was one of 25 schools to rank in the category of “A-plus school for B-plus students.”

“A Meaningful proportion of applicants whose test scores and class standing put them in non-A territory, but who have a decent shot at being accepted and thriving,” noted US News.

Samford was ranked 11th in the South on the “Great Schools at Great Prices” table. The average price for Samford’s tuitions and fees add up to a little more than $26,000.

In the “Strong Commitment to Teaching” category, Samford tied for fourth.

“This is a great milestone for Samford University, and many people have worked to make this possible,” said Samford President Andrew Westmoreland. “We continually assess our standing compared with our peers, but we always believe that the best measure of our success is in the academic and career accomplishments of our students, faculty and alumni.”

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifications form the basis for the school rankings. They look at class size, teacher/student ratio and graduation rates. Peer assessments from presidents, provosts and chief admissions officers in the same classification are also used according to Samford Vice President Phil Kimrey.

Samford University officials say they are planning to announce another record enrollment for the school, as well as a record freshman class.

The only two schools to rank higher than Samford in the Southern Division were Elon University out of Elon, NC at number one, and Rollins College of Winter Park, Fl coming in at number two.

Nationally, Princeton, Harvard, and Yale were the top three universities.

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