Tool | December 2014

Kiplinger's Best College Values

SEE ALSO: College Finder Map|SPECIAL REPORT: College Rankings, 2015

Sort and compare the 100 top values in public colleges and universities. Use the arrows at the top of any column of data to rank any list of colleges by critical cost and financial-aid metrics. For more information on a particular college, click the college's name for a complete data sheet.

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Rank (in- state)	Rank (out-of- state)	Name	State	Admit rate	4-yr- grad rate	Total cost per yr. (in- state)	Cost after need- based aid (in- state)	Total cost per yr. (out-of- state)	Cost after need- based aid (out-of- state)	Avg. debt at graduation
1	1	The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	27%	81%	$20,412	$6,332	$45,494	$31,414	$17,602
2	2	University of Virginia	VA	30	86	24,520	5,885	53,706	35,071	21,815
3	8	University of Florida	FL	47	64	17,233	10,359	39,511	32,637	20,708
4	6	University of California, Berkeley	CA	18	72	29,640	6,541	54,270	31,171	17,468
5	11	University of California, Los Angeles	CA	20	69	27,128	8,510	50,171	31,553	20,229
6	13	University of Michigan	MI	33	76	24,780	10,901	53,200	39,321	27,163
7	5	The College of William and Mary	VA	33	83	29,250	15,833	50,954	37,537	24,400
8	4	University of Wisconsin–Madison	WI	51	56	20,210	10,820	36,460	27,070	25,664
9	14	University of Maryland, College Park	MD	47	66	21,190	12,895	41,483	33,188	25,254
10	18	University of Georgia	GA	55	58	20,882	12,028	39,092	30,238	20,254
11	28	University of Washington	WA	55	58	24,433	10,433	45,552	31,552	21,263
12	15	North Carolina State University	NC	47	41	19,402	9,821	34,657	25,076	19,530
13	23	New College of Florida	FL	69	57	16,803	7,117	39,831	30,145	17,927
14	39	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	40	51	22,036	13,323	47,042	38,329	25,300
15	10	The Ohio State University	OH	56	59	21,135	12,103	37,635	28,603	26,472
16	30	University of California, Santa Barbara	CA	40	68	29,385	11,396	52,263	34,274	20,452
17	24	Georgia Institute of Technology	GA	41	41	23,028	13,758	42,332	33,062	25,027
18	9	Binghamton University, State University of New York	NY	42	69	22,648	15,127	34,288	26,767	23,912
19	12	Truman State University	MO	72	54	16,541	9,902	22,605	15,966	23,761
20	17	New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology	NM	32	19	14,658	8,849	26,586	20,777	19,880
21	29	James Madison University	VA	61	65	19,366	11,806	34,226	26,666	23,562
22	19	Florida State University	FL	57	57	17,714	13,768	32,881	28,935	23,782
23	16	The College of New Jersey	NJ	43	73	27,901	16,265	38,514	26,878	32,362
24	3	State University of New York College at Geneseo	NY	53	67	20,292	14,699	29,942	24,349	20,790
25	42	Texas A&M University	TX	69	51	19,701	10,566	36,878	27,743	25,223
26	35	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	70	61	21,071	14,583	37,102	30,614	26,925
27	52	Purdue University	IN	60	42	21,242	9,664	40,044	28,466	29,121
28	26	University of Connecticut	CT	54	68	25,624	17,306	45,804	37,486	24,600
29	38	Clemson University	SC	57	59	22,942	18,949	40,958	36,965	34,114
30	50	University of California, Irvine	CA	41	68	29,127	11,148	52,005	34,026	20,728
31	40	University of California, San Diego	CA	38	57	31,245	13,456	54,123	36,334	21,653
32	7	University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus	MN	44	55	23,180	14,262	30,430	21,512	28,384
33	25	Stony Brook University, State University of New York	NY	39	45	20,978	13,432	34,398	26,852	23,089
34	36	The University of Texas at Dallas	TX	59	46	22,548	14,465	42,070	33,987	20,504
35	45	The University of North Carolina Wilmington	NC	57	52	16,629	10,941	30,657	24,969	23,575
36	22	University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign	IL	62	68	27,650	16,093	42,276	30,719	24,657
37	57	University of California, Davis	CA	41	51	29,584	12,965	52,462	35,843	19,970
38	21	Baruch College of the City University of New York	NY	27	39	23,433	16,306	33,453	26,326	9,949
39	46	Appalachian State University	NC	66	42	14,928	7,372	28,095	20,539	20,467
40	90	Indiana University Bloomington	IN	72	58	21,381	10,972	44,234	33,825	27,619
41	54	University of Delaware	DE	63	69	25,010	16,488	43,360	34,838	32,571
42	69	University of Central Florida	FL	49	36	16,814	12,092	32,913	28,191	23,186
43	33	Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick	NJ	60	57	27,012	14,581	41,790	29,359	24,284
44	48	The University of Alabama	AL	57	43	19,406	10,854	33,906	25,354	28,508
45	62	University at Buffalo, the State University of New York	NY	57	52	22,435	17,300	35,855	30,720	16,105
46	27	Hunter College of the City University of New York	NY	31	22	17,819	11,272	27,389	20,842	13,000
47	34	University of Pittsburgh	PA	54	64	29,742	22,101	40,138	32,497	34,623
48	53	University of South Carolina	SC	64	54	21,576	16,603	39,858	34,885	25,711
49	41	St. Mary's College of Maryland	MD	73	71	26,754	15,466	41,604	30,316	24,624
50	78	Michigan State University	MI	69	50	23,414	14,389	45,179	36,154	25,821
51	49	University of North Carolina at Asheville	NC	69	37	16,075	9,328	30,946	24,199	17,696
52	32	University of South Florida	FL	45	36	16,810	10,831	27,725	21,746	22,719
53	37	Queens College of the City University of New York	NY	36	25	19,725	13,725	28,545	22,545	14,000
54	20	University of Minnesota, Morris	MN	58	50	21,110	11,343	21,110	11,343	24,313
55	31	Miami University	OH	67	68	26,646	18,582	42,753	34,689	27,181
56	68	Penn State University Park	PA	55	65	29,782	23,053	42,732	36,003	35,430
57	63	University of Missouri	MO	79	47	19,933	11,670	34,960	26,697	24,875
58	44	University of Arkansas	AR	59	37	19,064	12,271	31,154	24,361	24,111
59	66	University of Mississippi	MS	59	36	18,204	11,056	30,252	23,104	25,613
60	71	State University of New York at New Paltz	NY	44	50	19,803	15,057	29,453	24,707	25,741
61	65	Florida International University	FL	43	21	18,591	12,778	30,990	25,177	17,893
62	55	University of Oklahoma	OK	80	35	19,341	12,372	32,115	25,146	22,140
63	100	University of California, Santa Cruz	CA	52	50	29,565	11,076	52,443	33,954	22,523
64	80	Louisiana State University	LA	75	40	21,054	11,782	38,771	29,499	21,613
65	61	University of Wisconsin–La Crosse	WI	76	36	15,005	9,257	22,578	16,830	26,072
66	67	University of North Florida	FL	53	21	17,069	11,421	30,787	25,139	17,617
67	75	Western Carolina University	NC	39	32	15,255	9,272	25,648	19,665	20,273
68	64	University of Nebraska–Lincoln	NE	64	32	19,081	12,316	33,001	26,236	23,951
69	87	University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma	OK	62	27	12,300	4,735	20,340	12,775	23,964
70	59	Iowa State University of Science and Technology	IA	85	38	16,604	9,997	29,490	22,883	29,898
71	79	University of Massachusetts Amherst	MA	63	59	25,900	16,461	41,455	32,016	28,999
72	51	State University of New York College at Oneonta	NY	43	53	19,868	15,159	29,518	24,809	15,373
73	56	Oklahoma State University	OK	76	34	17,182	10,669	29,767	23,254	22,541
74	93	West Chester University of Pennsylvania	PA	52	44	18,386	13,068	28,836	23,518	30,396
75	47	California State University, Long Beach	CA	35	14	19,508	13,081	25,196	18,769	13,386
76	60	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	MD	63	37	22,146	14,702	34,444	27,000	22,603
77	85	University of Louisville	KY	71	25	19,142	10,742	33,030	24,630	21,742
78	76	The University of Tennessee	TN	72	37	23,754	15,089	42,214	33,549	23,729
79	43	Missouri University of Science and Technology	MO	82	25	21,070	14,107	33,924	26,961	21,659
80	70	State University of New York at Plattsburgh	NY	46	41	19,921	13,728	29,571	23,378	26,894
81	73	San Diego State University	CA	37	33	23,373	13,373	34,533	24,533	18,100
82	81	Ramapo College of New Jersey	NJ	55	59	26,338	16,033	34,988	24,683	30,755
83	72	Purchase College, State University of New York	NY	33	50	22,312	15,577	31,962	25,227	25,159
84	58	Salisbury University	MD	55	47	20,480	14,942	28,826	23,288	23,545
85	74	Rowan University	NJ	59	49	25,522	16,759	33,476	24,713	31,526
86	89	University of Northern Iowa	IA	83	37	16,695	12,136	26,593	22,034	23,151
87	92	Arizona State University at the Tempe campus	AZ	80	38	21,227	12,856	35,573	27,202	21,137
88	82	Auburn University	AL	83	38	23,578	16,469	40,762	33,653	27,146
89	83	Christopher Newport University	VA	59	50	23,178	17,499	33,506	27,827	27,324
90	86	Texas Tech University	TX	66	33	18,913	11,875	29,773	22,735	23,838
91	77	Western Washington University	WA	84	38	20,105	11,068	31,547	22,510	21,173
92	84	University of Mary Washington	VA	81	66	22,326	15,155	35,612	28,441	15,626
93	98	Colorado State University	CO	77	38	21,525	13,251	37,705	29,431	23,726
94	88	California State Polytechnic University, Pomona	CA	53	10	21,688	12,651	32,848	23,811	20,636
95	95	Temple University	PA	64	39	26,434	19,677	36,460	29,703	34,382
96	96	University at Albany, State University of New York	NY	56	56	21,753	14,758	33,393	26,398	25,729
97	94	Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts	MA	67	38	19,988	13,863	28,933	22,808	28,109
98	91	State University of New York at Oswego	NY	49	40	21,071	14,466	30,721	24,116	26,946
99	97	Illinois State University	IL	69	46	24,082	14,548	31,672	22,138	29,121
100	99	The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey	NJ	62	42	25,319	17,093	31,840	23,614	33,944

Cost Data - through November 15, 2014.
NA - Information not available.
* Percentage of 2013-14 freshman class that scored 600 or higher on verbal/math SATs or 24 or higher on ACT.
SOURCE - Peterson's Undergraduate Database. Copyright © 2014 Peterson's/Nelnet LLC. All rights reserved.