Best Values in Public Colleges
Our fifth ranking of 100 schools that offer academic excellence at an affordable price finds a familiar name at the top of the list. See if your state school is a contender.
By Kimberly Lankford, Contributing Editor
From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, February 2006
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Making the grade
How can UNC afford to boost its aid while so many schools are cutting theirs? For one thing, legislators in North Carolina spared need-based aid when they were tightening the state's budget during the past few years. In addition, says UNC chancellor James Moeser, "We're fortunate to be the number-one university in sales of licensed products, such as T-shirts and baseball caps." Traditionally, 75% of trademark-licensing revenue, which totals about $3.5 million a year, has gone toward financial aid. In 2005, UNC shifted the remainder of licensing revenue from the athletic department to create 59 new merit scholarships of $2,500 each.
That has helped Chapel Hill attract one of the highest-caliber student bodies of any public college. Among students in the freshman class of 2004Ð05, 78% scored 600 or higher on the math component of the SAT exam, and 73% scored 600 or above on the verbal section. About 25% of students scored 700 or higher on the verbal or math exams.
For Christian Mibelli, a charismatic 19-year-old freshman who graduated in the top of his class in Weddington, N.C., a merit scholarship of $7,500 per year made a big difference in choosing UNC over Duke, Wake Forest and Davidson. Even with a scholarship, Duke was still a lot more expensive than UNC, and Mibelli was impressed with Chapel Hill: "Being at a school where everyone worked extremely hard to get in and wants to be here is an amazing experience."
Mibelli, who's interested in medicine and public policy, participates in student government, takes classes to become an emergency medical technician and volunteers at the university's N.C. Children's Hospital. "There are so many possibilities," he says.
Most students agree. At UNC, 95% of them return after their freshman year, compared with a retention rate of 80% to 90% for most schools. It's a place where school spirit isn't uncool -- especially when you're the reigning NCAA basketball champions.
Like many large universities near the top of our list, UNC is getting a lot more money from private donations. The Carolina First campaign raised more than $1.6 billion from July 1999 to December 2005 for faculty, research, scholarships and facilities. UCLA and the universities of Michigan, Virginia and Washington are in the midst of their own billion-dollar private fund-raising drives. And some of the smaller public colleges "are getting into that business," says Travis Reindl, of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
Small and selective
Most of the schools that head our rankings are state powerhouses with 15,000 students or more. But a few small public colleges also stand out. One of this year's stars is the State University of New York at Geneseo, which jumped from 32nd place in 2003 to seventh place for in-state students, for whom tuition and fees are a bargain $5,520.
Geneseo also tops the list as the best deal for out-of-state residents, who pay $11,780 in tuition and fees ($19,970 when you add in room, board and books). That's less than half the nonresident tuition at some other public colleges, and it's one-third of what you'd pay at some private schools.
