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Champlain College Included in the '2018 Fiske Guide to Colleges'

Leading College Guide Cites Champlain's Collaborative Academic Climate and Unique Approach to Blending Professional Studies and Liberal Arts

Burlington, VT (07/11/2017) — The "Fiske Guide to Colleges," a leading college guidebook, has again included Champlain College for its 2018 edition highlighting 300-plus colleges and universities designated as the "best and most interesting schools" in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.

Compiled by former New York Times education editor Edward B. Fiske, the guidebook selects colleges based primarily on academic quality. It includes information about each college's academics, social life, student body, financial aid, campus setting, housing, food and extracurricular activities.

"Our inclusion in the Fiske Guide is a recognition of the value and quality of a Champlain College education," noted Champlain President Donald J. Laackman.

"Guides that include student voices, qualitative evaluations, and realistic quantitative comparisons are valuable resources for parents, students and high school counselors looking for colleges that are a good fit," he added.

Fiske describes Champlain in the guide as "a small college with a unique approach to blending professional education and the liberal arts…. (it) is an up-and-coming small college, situated on a hill overlooking Vermont's scenic Lake Champlain, that has set out to reinvent the relationship between professional studies and the liberal arts through its so-called 'upside-down" curriculum.'"

The Fiske Guide adds comments from current students to help describe the college: "Professors bring "a great deal of passion, dedication, and experience that the students can tap into to expand our own knowledge," says one student. Sixty-eight percent of classes at Champlain have fewer than 20 students, and all are taught on an inquiry basis by professors or adjuncts, with no teaching assistants.

"Champlain students are focused, driven and passionate," says a social work and psychology major - they arrive with a career choice in mind.

Fiske's description of Champlain College lauds its location in Burlington and the academic campus consisting of a mix of lovely restored Victorian mansions and complimentary modern structures of brick with slate roofs and green trim.

While this is the third year Champlain has been included in the Fiske Guide, the College has been consistently ranked among the top regional colleges in several guides.

Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review's The Best 381 Colleges: 2017 Edition and the Princeton Review "2017 Guide to Green Colleges." Champlain Champlain was named one of the "Most Innovative Schools" in the North by the U.S. News and World Report's 2017 "America's Best Colleges and #91 in the overall list of "Best Regional Universities in the North.

The Fiske Guide is available in bookstores and online at http://www.fiskeguide.com/. The guide includes Fiske's "Best Buys" schools that deliver the best education at the most reasonable costs; lists of each school's strongest majors and programs, candid comments from each school's current students and a self-quiz to help students understand which college is right for them.

The Fiske Guide to Colleges is also available as an iPad app on iTunes and a web program on CollegeCountdown.com. Fiske Interactive ($19.99 for a 12-month subscription) allows families to go beyond the book by viewing photos of each campus, creating school lists, and taking virtual notes.

Learn more about Champlain College at www.champlain.edu.

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Champlain College, Burlington, VT. (photo by Stephen Mease)

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