Due to its reasonable tuition prices and inclusive environment, the University of Idaho has been recognized in a recent study published by the SR Education Group as one of the top online LGBT-friendly and affordable colleges in the United States for 2017.
Taitum Ridgway, the lead marketing manager at SR Education Group, said the group is an education research publisher founded in 2004 that studies colleges across the U.S. to develop reliable online resources for incoming college students, which include a variety of research rankings.
“Our rankings are based on affordability, accessibility and quality,” Ridgway said. “Our goal is to help prospective students find a degree program that matches their budget and career aspirations.”
Ridgway said the SR Education Group’s focus for its colligate research studies are prices, nonprofit status, military support, reviews from former students and popularity. She said the group decided to look at available resources for students in the LGBT community after they noticed a lack of dependable studies designed to help these students find an online degree program at an LGBT-friendly school.
“Campus Pride does a fantastic job at surveying schools and measuring LGBT-friendly policies, programs and practices, but they don’t break the data down for students interested in online education,” Ridgway said. “We have a lot of experience researching online colleges and affordability, so we set out to combine our expertise with Campus Pride’s data in order to serve students of the LGBTQ community.”
Ridgway said that is the SR Education Group’s first year publishing rankings of LGBT-friendly colleges.
Director of the UI LGBTQA Office Julia Keleher said her office works to provide students and other members of the university community with an open and nonjudgmental atmosphere for them to explore aspects of sexual orientation and gender expression, no matter if they identify as LGBT or not.
Keleher said her office’s main goal is to eliminate homophobia, heterosexism and gender identity oppression on campus. She also said the LGBTQA Office puts together a variety of educational programs to promote that vision of full inclusion.
Keleher said the LGBTQA Office was established in 2007, to work in conjunction with the Women’s Center, but about four years ago it became a standalone office when demand increased for its services.
“I think (UI) is on the forefront of LGBTQA inclusion in the state of Idaho,” Keleher said. “I’ve had students tell me that they came specifically to the University of Idaho because of the LGBTQA Office and that’s extremely impactful.”
Keleher said she was honored to have been recognized by the SR Education Group and believes that the recognition only goes to show the efforts of the LGBTQA Office are working to provide students with a safer and more comfortable environment — whether that be on campus or off.
She also said she hopes that people will look at the SR Education Group’s study and change their thoughts in regard to state and its stereotype of not being LGBT-friendly.
“I think it’s important to understand that LGBTQ-friendly programs, policies and practices influence a student’s experience even if they are not physically on campus,” Ridgway said.
Olivia Heersink can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @heersinkolivia