The online degree program at Linfield College was rated one of the nation’s best in a recently-released U.S. News & World Report survey.

The small college outranked Oregon’s public universities, with only two Oregon schools making the Best Online Education Degree Programs list. Linfield’s online degree program, which complements its campus-based liberal arts and sciences curriculum, ranks 136 in the nation.

Criteria include the strength of individual mentoring and career placement support, the quality of technology, and graduation rates, among other indicators.

Last fall, the school’s online degree program experienced an 8 percent increase in the number of new enrollments, consistent with national trends. A recent survey from the Babson Survey Research Group showed that online enrollments make up an increasing proportion of all college enrollments, with 32 percent of all students taking at least one online course.

“The online program at Linfield College appeals to older students, with an average age of 36,” said Janet Gifford, associate director of the school’s Adult Degree Program. “Our online students miss out on the richness of our campus-based college experience, but students come to us at different stages of life and it’s important that we support all of them. Most of our online students work full-time and have family responsibilities.”

Linfield ranked 112 in the earlier U.S. News & World Report survey of the nation’s best liberal arts colleges.