The New York Times has named Knox College as one of the top 15 U.S. colleges and universities doing the most for low-income students.

Knox's ranking of No. 14 is included in the College Access Index, a measure of economic diversity at top colleges. The index was created in 2014 by The Upshot, a feature of the New York Times that presents news, analysis, and data visualization.

"Higher education has always served our nation as a ladder of upward mobility, and this has been at the core of Knox's mission since our founding," President Teresa Amott said. "This ranking honors Knox's commitment to its mission, and I could not be more proud of Knox than I am today."

The College Access Index is based on three factors: the share of first-year students receiving Pell grants, which most often go to students from households with annual incomes less than $70,000; the graduation rate of students; and the net price (after financial aid) of college for low- and middle-income students.

The full list of rankings consists of 179 institutions and was unveiled September 16 at the New York Times Schools for Tomorrow Conference. Along with Knox, other schools in the top 15 include Harvard University, the University of California at Los Angeles, and Vassar College.

In addition to the New York Times ranking, Knox recently earned recognition from other major national publications, including Washington Monthly and US News & World Report.

Washington Monthly selected Knox as No. 11 in its rankings of the best liberal arts colleges for service to the country and their communities. Washington Monthly's rankings reflect high scores for Knox in several service-oriented criteria. Knox has especially high rankings in two key areas—third nationally in the proportion of alumni who join the Peace Corps, and fourth in the nation in the proportion of student work-study funding dedicated to service projects in the community.

US News & World Report cited Knox as a top college in several categories. It named Knox as one of the top "Best Value" liberal arts colleges—No. 28 in the nation in the category of "Great Schools at Great Prices"—based on both academic quality and value. Other Best Value schools include Amherst, Williams, Pomona, Grinnell, Swarthmore and Macalester colleges.

US News, which listed Knox as one of the nation's most international liberal arts colleges, also ranked Knox as No. 72 among more than 230 national liberal arts colleges. Knox's position among the magazine's top 100 liberal arts colleges is based on a high graduation rate—88%—and strong academic credentials of the entering class—31% in the top 10% of their high school class.