Career Advice for Job Seekers
100 Best Values in Public Colleges for 2011-2012
William FriersonWhere can you get a quality, yet affordable education at a public college?
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance has named the 100 best values in public colleges, ranking four-year schools that combine outstanding education with economic value. The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill takes top honors, a spot it has held consistently since Kiplinger’s first analysis in 1998. This year it ranks number one for out-of-state value as well.
The total cost of private colleges has recently averaged almost $39,000 a year, more than twice the average annual in-state sticker price–roughly $17,000–at public schools. A third of the public schools on Kiplinger’s top-100 list charge about the same as or less than that average amount, an indication of the emphasis Kiplinger’s places on affordability. Plus, the deals aren’t restricted to in-state students. At UNC-Chapel Hill, out-of-state students pay $37,500 a year, not inconsiderable but far less than the $54,000-plus costs of nearby competitors Duke and Wake Forest. UNC-Chapel Hill provides the same level of financial aid to both in-state and out-of-state students.
Other terrific bargains on the list include North Georgia College and State University (number 88), which runs less than $14,000 a year for in-state total cost and keeps average debt at graduation at $10,000. The University of Sciences and Arts of Oklahoma (number 93) charges $11,230 to in-state students and $18,200 to out-of-staters, making it the lowest-cost institution on the list.
“As states cut funding for higher education and tuition continues to climb, the word “value” becomes more significant than ever,” said Jane Bennett Clark, senior editor at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. “This year’s top 100 public schools deliver strong academics at reasonable prices. We applaud these institutions for tightening their belts without compromising quality.”
Kiplinger’s assesses quality and affordability according to a number of measurable standards. This year, the rankings were revamped to give more weight to academic value, such as the percentage of students who return for sophomore year and the four-year graduation rate. Cost criteria include low sticker prices, abundant financial aid and low average debt at graduation.
Kiplinger’s Top 10 Values in Public Colleges for 2011-12:
| Public Colleges |
Total Cost Per Year – In-state |
Total Cost Per Year – Out-of-state |
Avg. Debt at Grad. |
|
| 1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2. University of Florida 3. University of Virginia 4. College of William and Mary 5. New College of Florida 6. University of Georgia 7. University of California, Berkeley 8. University of Maryland, College Park 9. University of California, Los Angeles 10. University of California, San Diego |
$17,628 15,526 21,626 23,054 15,458 19,258 29,027 19,409 28,174 26,232 |
$37,454 37,803 45,948 45,331 38,487 37,468 51,905 36,780 51,052 49,110
|
$16,165 16,013 19,384 21,367 11,458 15,938 16,056 22,696 16,733 18,757
|
Full List of Kiplinger’s Top 100 Values in Public Colleges:
| 11. SUNY Geneseo
12. Binghamton University (SUNY) 13. University of Wisconsin-Madison 14. University of Washington 15. University of North Carolina at Wilmington 16. University of Michigan 17. University of California, Santa Barbara 18. Florida State University 19. North Carolina State University 20. University of California, Davis 21. Texas A&M University 22. University. of California, Irvine 23. Truman State University (Mo.) 24. University of Texas at Austin 25. University of Delaware 26. College of New Jersey 27. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 28. James Madison University (Va.) 29. University of Pittsburgh (Pa.) 30. University of Connecticut 31. Georgia Institute of Technology 32. Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University 33. Appalachian State University (N.C) 34. Clemson University (S.C) 35. Stony Brook University (SUNY) 36. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology 37. Ohio State University 38. University at Buffalo (SUNY) 39. University of Central Florida 40. Indiana University, Bloomington 41. North Carolina School of the Arts 42. St. Mary’s College of Maryland 43. Rutgers, State Univ. of N.J., New Brunswick 44. University of Mary Washington (Va.) 45. University of North Carolina at Asheville 46. University of Texas at Dallas 47. University of Iowa 48. Ramapo College of New Jersey 49. Michigan State University 50. George Mason University (Va.) 51. Pennsylvania State Univ. at University Park 52. Miami University (Ohio) 53. University of Arkansas 54. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities 55. SUNY New Paltz 56. University of California, Santa Cruz For more information on the best values in public colleges, go to http://www.kiplinger.com/links/college. |
57. University of South Carolina
58. SUNY Oneonta 59. University of Vermont 60. Purdue University (Ind.) 61. College of Charleston (S.C.) 62. University of Wisconsin–La Crosse 63. University of North Florida 64. University at Albany (SUNY) 65. University of Minnesota, Morris 66. Iowa State University 67. University of Oklahoma 68. University of Nebraska–Lincoln 69. Colorado School of Mines 70. University of Massachusetts–Amherst 71. Salisbury University (Md.) 72. Louisiana State University 73. University of Colorado at Boulder 74. University of Tennessee 75. SUNY Brockport 76. Towson University (Md.) 77. San Diego State University (Cal.) 78. SUNY Fredonia 79. University of Missouri–Columbia 80. University of Alabama 81. Western Washington University 82. University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire 83. Cal. Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo 84. University of Maryland, Baltimore County 85. University of Illinois at Springfield 86. Colorado State University 87. University of South Florida 88. North Georgia College & State University 89. Auburn University (Ala.) 90. West Chester University of Pennsylvania 91. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 92. Oklahoma State University 93. University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma 94. Christopher Newport University (Va.) 95. University of California, Riverside 96. Louisiana Tech University 97. University of Oregon 98. California State University, Long Beach 99. University of Arizona 100. University of New Hampshire |
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