Brandeis is ranked 31st among national universities in U.S. News & World Report’s 2010 listing of “America’s Best Colleges.” The closely followed rankings were released Aug. 20.

The magazine also ranked Brandeis 31st among “best value” schools nationally, noting that 46 percent of students receive need-based grants. The average discount from total cost is 47 percent.

“While these rankings cannot reflect the full breadth and richness of the Brandeis experience,” said President Jehuda Reinharz, PhD ’72, “I accept them as a sign of the outstanding work and dedication that drive our educational mission here.”

The magazine’s national university category includes institutions that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, master’s, and doctoral degrees, and are committed to pursuing groundbreaking research. Harvard and Princeton tied for first.

Brandeis was fourth among Massachusetts universities, trailing Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (tied for fourth) and Tufts (tied for 28th). Other highly ranked schools in the state included Boston College (34th), Boston University (tied for 56th), Worcester Polytechnic Institute (68th), Northeastern (tied for 80th), and Clark (tied for 88th).

Additionally, Brandeis was tied for 20th among national universities in the percentage of alumni who make gifts to the institution, a important measure of how graduates feel about their educational experience.

The U.S. News guide, considered the most influential of its kind among prospective students and their parents, scores colleges and universities on a 100-point scale based on their performance in seven broad categories: peer assessment, a subjective measure of a school’s reputation by other university presidents, provosts and admissions deans (25 percent of total score); student selectivity (15 percent); faculty resources (20 percent); graduation and retention rates (20 percent); expenditures per student (10 percent); alumni giving rate (5 percent); and graduation rate performance (5 percent).