FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Any prospective student reading the 2009 edition of The Princeton Review’s The Best 368 Colleges will find essentially the same information about the University of Arkansas they found in the last two editions, with one significant difference.

The big change is in a new category, the survey’s “Green Rating.” This first-time rating is based on each school’s environmental practices, policies and course offerings. On a scale of 60-99, the University of Arkansas gets a 97 rating.

“We are always pleased to be included among the best academic schools in the nation by the Princeton Review,”said Chancellor G. David Gearhart. “But as the publication points out, campus life and culture are also important to prospective students, and environmental issues are a significant concern for many of them when choosing a college. The University of Arkansas has been working very hard to become an environmentally sustainable institution, and it is satisfying to see that work recognized.”

In other categories, the university maintained the 84 rating it received the past two years for “Campus Life,” while the “Academics” rating dropped from 73 in 2008 to 72 for 2009. “Selectivity,” a mark of the university’s admissions standards, improved to an 87 rating, a point up from last year. The “Financial Aid” rating, which measures both availability of aid and student satisfaction with that aid, increased by two points, to 75 for the 2009 survey.

The Best 368 Colleges is probably best known for its “Top 20” ratings of schools in 62 categories ranging from “Best Classroom Experience” to “Top Party School.” The University of Arkansas did not place on any of the Top 20 lists.

The 368 Best Colleges is intended as a consumer tool to help high school students and their parents choose where they want to apply to college, according to the guide. The full survey can be found on The Princeton Review Web site, http://www.PrincetonReview.com.