Best College Values For 2008-2009.
For those of you either starting to look at colleges or for those of you with kids starting to look, I thought this might be of some value to you – especially in the cost category! To make the list of the best college values for 2008-2009, Kiplingers looked at:
- Percentage of the 2008-09 freshman class scoring 600 or higher on the verbal and math components of the SAT (or scoring 24 or higher on the ACT)
- Admission rates
- Freshman retention rates
- Student-faculty ratios
- Four- and six-year graduation rates, which most schools reported for the student cohort entering in 2002
- Total cost for in-state students (tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, and estimated expenses for books)
- Average cost for a student with need after subtracting grants (but not loans)
- Average cost for a student without need after subtracting non-need-based grants
- Average percentage of need met by aid (need-based assistance)
- Average debt a student accumulates before graduation
So what schools were in the Top 10?
1 – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2 – University of Florida
3 – University of Virginia
4 – University of Georgia
5 – College of William and Mary
6 – SUNY Geneseo
7 – SUNY Binghamton
8 – New College of Florida
9 – University of Maryland, College Park
10 – University of California, San Diego
Did your college make the list? Reading this list reminded me of a post I read over at That One Caveman, where a reader was asking for advice about her college of choice. My opinion was along with the majority of other comments there, that she was making a bad decision. If you feel like giving her some advice of your own, visit his post on the subject!
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I knew UCLA wouldn’t make that list…grrr.
Check out the January issue of Smart Money magazine as well. They derived their own set of rankings based on what they call a “payback ratio”. I discussed it briefly on my blog. I am particularly excited about it because my school Texas A&M comes in at #2!