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PARKERSBURG - A local school leaped upward in the U.S. News and World Report annual ranking of colleges and universities in America for 2009.

Ohio Valley University jumped 16 notches from 55 in 2008 in the third tier to 39th in the first tier in the magazine's survey of 96 colleges in the southern region.

"We're actually honored by it," said OVU President E. Keith Stotts.

The 2010 rankings, on the news stands now, was based on several factors including retention of students from freshmen to senior years, graduation rates, student-to-teacher ratios, number of recruited students in the top 25 percent of their high school class and a higher than average rate of rejecting applicants the school doesn't believe will be successful, Stotts said.

The freshman retention rate is 68 percent. The student-teacher ration at OVU is 16-1 while its rejection rate is 2 percent higher than the average among schools, he said.

The unfortunate perception of the latter is the school is elitist, Stotts said.

"Because we're not," he said. "There are some students who just aren't going to make it."

The school was also ranked third behind the University of Charleston (W.Va.) for the most international students, 9 percent.

West Virginia University at Parkersburg was unranked. Schools with open admissions are not ranked, according to the magazine's criteria, said Connie Dziagwa, spokesman for the college. The college's admission rate for the fall is 100 percent, the magazine said.

The retention rate for a community college also is misleading, Dziagwa said. Students attend long enough to gain the skills, training and education for employment or transfer to another college after several years, she said.

In the rankings for other schools in the area and West Virginia, Marietta College was ranked in a tie for No. 6 in the midwest with Huntington (Ind.) University and Cedarville University. Marietta College earlier this month was ranked by Forbes.com in the top 19 percent at 112, up 56 places from 2008, the first year of that survey.

In the national universities category Ohio University at Athens was ranked 115. Ohio State University at Columbus was ranked 53.

West Virginia University again was in the unranked 66-school third tier of national schools conferring doctorates. Its score by peers of 2.5 out of 5 placed it with Kent State, Montana State, Ball State, Bowling Green and New School in New York.

In the ranking for institutions offering master's, Wheeling Jesuit was ranked 18 out of more than 115 schools.

Marshall University ranked number 45 in the list for master's schools, a two-spot drop from 2008.

In the category of schools offering bachelor's, the University of Charleston was ranked 15.

Other rankings in West Virginia were: Alderson-Broaddus College, 21; Davis and Elkins College, 30; Shepherd University, 40; Concord University, 45; and Fairmont State University, 48. Alderson-Broaddus was ranked fifth in best value.

Glenville State College and West Virginia University Institute of Technology were the unranked tier 4. West Liberty State College and Bluefield State College were in tier 3.

Shepherd, Concord and Fairmont State were ranked in the top 10 of public schools offering baccalaureate degrees.

Criteria in that determination included:

• The ratio of quality to price, which is determined by the school's overall score in the 2010 rankings divided by the 2008-2009 net cost to a student receiving an average need-based scholarship or grant.

"The higher the ratio of a school's America's Best Colleges 2010 edition rank to the discounted total cost less the average 2008-2009 academic year need-based scholarship or grant, the better the value," the magazine said.

• Percentage of undergraduate students receiving need-based scholarships or grants during the 2008-2009 academic year.

• The average discount based on the percentage of a school's 2008-2009 total costs covered by the 2008-2009 academic year average need-based scholarship or grant to undergraduates.