For the second year in a row, the University of Georgia makes the top 10 best public college values, a list Kiplinger's compiles “based on a high four-year graduation rates, low student-faculty ratios, reasonable price tags and generous need-based aid for students who qualify.”
Kiplinger's writes:
While the in-state sticker price nears $21,000, the average need-based-aid award cuts that figure 42% to $12,028. Georgia residents with excellent academic high school records can qualify for the Hope Scholarship. Fewer than half of UGA students take out loans – and at $20,254, the average debt at graduation is about $5,350 less than the national average for four-year public schools.
The other public colleges on the list are the usual campuses that dominate "best" lists.
In order from the top, they are the University of North Carolina, University of Virginia, University of Florida, University of California-Berkley, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Michigan, College of William and Mary, University of Wisconsin, University of Maryland and UGA.
Georgia Tech ranks 17th on the best buy list among public colleges.
In writing about overall best values among private and public schools, Kiplinger’s says:
Private colleges and universities typically have higher graduation rates (reducing the likelihood that students will spend a costly extra year on campus) and offer more generous financial aid packages (driving down the net price) than public institutions – both of which make private colleges and universities more affordable than their sticker price suggests.
Overall top-10 best values in 2015, according to Kiplinger’s: Princeton, Yale, Swarthmore, Washington and Lee, Wellesley College, Harvard, Rice, Haverford, Pomona and Duke.
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