Miami again named a Kiplinger "Best Value"
Jan 05, 2010Editors started with data from a list of 500 public four-year colleges and universities. They narrowed their list to 120 schools based on academic quality measures of entrance exam scores of the 2009 freshman class, admission rates, freshman retention rates, student-faculty ratios and graduation rates. They then ranked schools on cost measures: total cost overall, the average cost for students with and without need after subtracting grants (but not loans), average percentage of need met by aid and the average amount of debt a student accumulates before graduation.
To measure academic strength and affordability, two-thirds of the scoring formula was based on quality and one-third on cost.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Florida and the University of Virginia top the list. Ohio State University was the only other Ohio school on the list.
