University of Louisville

University of Louisville is a public institution that was founded in 1798. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 15,962, its setting is urban, and the campus size is 345 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. University of Louisville's ranking in the 2016 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, 168. Its in-state tuition and fees are $10,738 (2015-16); out-of-state tuition and fees are $24,626 (2015-16).

The University of Louisville is located in Kentucky on the banks of the Ohio River, about 100 miles from both Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Students at U of L, as it is known, can major in more than 170 areas of study, including master's programs in the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law and in the fields of business and medicine. Outside the classroom, University of Louisville students can join more than 400 campus organizations, pledge with about 30 fraternities and sororities and play intramural sports. More serious athletes can try out for the Louisville Cardinals varsity teams, which compete in the NCAA Division I Atlantic Coast Conference.

On campus, U of L students can also check out the art museum, planetarium and Auguste Rodin's original sculpture of The Thinker. In the city of Louisville, U of L students can go to the zoo, the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival and the famous Kentucky Derby horse race. Notable University of Louisville alumni include radio journalist Bob Edwards and the late Frank Neuhauser, who won the first National Spelling Bee in 1925 when he successfully spelled the word "gladiolus."

The University of Louisville is intent on becoming a premier metropolitan research university, known for improving the lives of the citizens of Louisville and Kentucky. Ranked among America's top 12 "good neighbors" in a survey by the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, UofL emphasis the Signature Partnership initiative, a program designed to enhance the quality of life and economic opportunity for individuals and families who live in Louisville's urban core. The goal is to work with various community partners to improve their educational, health, economic and social status. Working closely with community residents, the Jefferson County Public Schools, Louisville Metro Government, Metro United Way, the Urban League, faith-based organizations and many others, the university has coordinated and enhanced existing programs and launched new programs designed to eliminate or reduce disparities in that area. UofL is drawing upon the expertise and energy of every school and college to deal with the quality of life issues affecting the community. UofL also serves as an economic engine for Louisville. An independent study showed that between 2003 and 2009 UofL-related investments resulted in the creation of 9,764 jobs - or about 40 percent of the new net jobs created in Kentucky during that time. UofL activities also added $1.7 billion to the commonwealth's economic output. The university's strategy includes taking underperforming assets and finding ways to help them reach their economic potential. This tactic is important for the university's economic well-being in a period when Kentucky has cut funding to state universities 14 times in 14 years. A significant portion of UofL's Shelby Campus is being developed into the Shelbyhurst Office and Research Park. The first building has been completed and is 100 percent occupied; a second building is under construction. Revenue generated from ShelbyHurst Office and Research Park will support UofL's academic and research missions. UofL also is developing property in downtown Louisville at its Health Sciences campus and has acquired property adjacent to its Belknap Campus. That property will be home to the Belknap Engineering and Applied Science Research Park. The park will include the Institute for Product Realization and Innovation a collaboration between industry and UofL to quickly create innovative products and test them in the marketplace. While that development is in the planning stages, a development in downtown Louisville is under way. NUCLEUS, Kentucky's Life Science and Innovation Center, provides business management and consulting services to support entrepreneurs engaged in life sciences. When it is completed, the research complex will house multiple facilities in close proximity to expedite collaboration and shared expertise among researchers and companies. In addition to the support UofL provides the commonwealth for improving infrastructure, UofL also started the Cardinal Covenant program - the first program of its kind in Kentucky - to help low-income families fund a college education. Students leave the program debt free and with a college education - ready to enter Kentucky's workforce. More than 300 students are currently in the program, and more than a third of those have a gpa of 3.0 or higher. Helping students reach their potential takes many forms of support. Over the past decade, incoming UofL students have been increasingly better prepared than those who have come before them. Starting in 2000, the university created an office to help them apply for national and international teaching and research scholarships. The office has been so successful in identifying excellent scholars that UofL students and graduates received 75 Fulbright scholarships between 2003 and 2013, ranking UofL among the top-producing universities in the nation. Since 2009, UofL students also have captured prestigious Rhodes, Truman and Goldwater scholarships, among others.