The 10 highest-ranked affordable colleges in America

Best quality of life: Emory University (No. 3), Agnes Scott College (No. 20) Great financial aid: Emory University (No. 15) Most conservative students: Berry College (No. 20) Most liberal students: Agnes Scott College (No. 12) Most LGBTQ-friendly: Agnes Scott College (No. 7) Lots of race/class interaction: Agnes Scott College (No. 20) Most beautiful campus: Berry College (No. 9) Most active student government: Agnes Scott College (No. 9) Best college dorms: Emory University (No. 8) Most religious students

Without scholarships, grants and plenty of financial aid help, America’s most prestigious universities often come with a ghastly price tag.

U.S. News & World Report released its National Universities rankings this week, highlighting 311 American schools offering a full range of undergraduate majors, master's and doctoral programs and a commitment to faculty research.

Researchers compared institutions based on 15 “widely accepted indicators of excellence,” such as first-year student retention rates, graduation rates, strength of faculty and more.

To determine the top 10 most affordable top-ranked institutions, we examined colleges in the U.S. News National Universities ranking with the lowest 2017-2018 tuition and narrowed our criteria to only include institutions in the top 100 of the 311 ranked.

Here are the 10 most affordable, top-ranked colleges in America, using U.S. News data:

Brigham Young University — Provo (Provo, Utah)

National rank: 61

Out-of-state tuition: $5,460

In-state tuition: $5,460

SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Syracuse, New York)

National rank: 97

Out-of-state tuition: $18,090

In-state tuition: $8,240

Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida)

National rank: 81

Out-of-state tuition: $21,673

In-state tuition: $6,507

Binghamton University — SUNY (Binghamton, New York)

National rank: 87

Out-of-state tuition: $24,403

In-state tuition: $9,523

University of Oklahoma (Norman, Oklahoma)

National rank: 97

Out-of-state tuition: $24,443

In-state tuition: $9,062

University at Buffalo — SUNY (Buffalo, New York)

National rank: 97

Out-of-state tuition: $26,270

In-state tuition: $12,292

Stony Brook University SUNY (Stony Brook, New York)

National rank: 97

Out-of-state tuition: $26,297

In-state tuition: $9,257

University of Minnesota — Twin Cities (Minneapolis, Minnesota)

National rank: 69

Out-of-state tuition: $26,603

In-state tuition: $9,852

North Carolina State University — Raleigh (Raleigh, North Carolina)

National rank: 81

Out-of-state tuition: $27,406

In-state tuition: $9,058

University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida)

National rank: 42

Out-of-state tuition: $28,658

In-state tuition: $6,381

Full U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings at usnews.com.