Best Value Public Colleges

Choosing the perfect college or university can be a daunting task as there are so many factors to consider during your search. You have to take important factors into account such as cost and location and then there are other factors that you may want to consider; for example are your parents alumni of a certain school or maybe you received a scholarship to a specific school. To help narrow down your search, many organizations will summarize the top schools based on everything from financial aid, enrollment, SAT data, admission rates, etc and provide the information to you in an easy to read format online. Kiplingers.com has done just that for you. Based on their research, they recently chose the top 100 best value public colleges and the top 100 best value private colleges.

SUMMARY OF TOP 100 PUBLIC COLLEGES

1. Top In-State School: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
   With an enrollment of about 17,000 students, UNC Chapel Hill is the top school for North Carolina students. After aid is awarded to in-state students, the average cost is only about $5000. Even if an in-state student must pay full tuition, they are still getting a deal by only paying an average of $14,000 per year in total costs.


2. Top Out of state school: SUNY Binghamton
   With a low student/faculty ratio and out of state costs that are comparable to many colleges’ in-state costs, makes SUNY Binghamton a top school for out of state students.


3. Top School for Enrollment: New College of Florida
   This is a good school with a small enrollment (767 average enrollment) making this school a good pick for students wanting a small school with great credentials.


4. Top School with best 4-Year Graduation Rate: University of Virginia
   With an average four-year graduation rate of 84%, these students are here to stay.


5. Top School with best 6-Year Graduation Rate: University of Virginia
   University of Virginia again tops the charts with the best six year graduation rate. Their students love the school with a six year graduation rate of 93.1%.


6. Top School with best in-state total costs: University of Michigan Dearborn
   This Michigan University is good to its in-state students with low in-state costs of about $9300, and $5450 after financial aid is awarded.


7. Top School with best in-state costs after financial aid: New College of Florida
   This college tops the list again by providing their in-state students with an affordable education after financial aid. With an amount of $4222, in-state students can get a great education at a cost that won’t put a dent in their wallet.


8. Top School with best out of state costs: Louisiana Tech University
   Louisiana Tech offers out of state students a top-notch education at an affordable price. Only costing out of state students an average of $14,800 and $9100 after aid, Louisiana Tech is making it easier for students from other states to come to Louisiana for their college education.


9. Top School with best out of state costs after aid: Louisiana Tech University
   Louisiana Tech University tops the list again providing a top education to out of state students at an affordable price- average $9100 after financial aid.


10. School with the lowest debt at graduation: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
    Students graduating from this school have the lowest debt when graduating with an average of only $6700. This is appealing, as the cloud of student loan debt will not hover over you after graduation.

Source: Kiplinger.com