Kiplinger's: W&M one of the best values in the country
William & Mary is one of the nation’s best bargains, according to a report released today by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.
The magazine listed William & Mary fourth among its list of top 100 American public colleges and universities that combine “outstanding education and economic value.” It is the fourth year in a row William & Mary is listed as the fourth in the country. Overall, the Commonwealth of Virginia had two of its public universities among the top four (University of Virginia and William & Mary) and four within Kiplinger’s top 30 values.
Schools in Kiplinger’s top 100 were chosen from a pool of more than 500 public four-year colleges and universities. According to Kiplinger’s, the list is initially narrowed down to about 130 schools based on measures of academic quality, including admission rate, percentage of students who return for sophomore year, student-faculty ratio and four-year graduation rate. The editors then rank each school based on cost and financial aid.
“We applaud this year’s top 100 schools for their efforts to maintain academic standards while meeting the financial needs of their students,” said Janet Bodnar, editor of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.
The University of North Carolina remained in Kiplinger’s top spot on the annual ranking, followed by the University of Virginia and the University of Florida. In addition to U.Va. and W&M, other Virginia schools on the top 100 list include James Madison University (20th), Virginia Tech (28th), University of Mary Washington (53rd), George Mason University (56th) and Christopher Newport University (87th).
The complete listing appears on the magazine’s website and in Kiplinger’s February 2013 issue.
