University Times

Pitt is the highest ranked among six Pennsylvania public institutions listed in the 100 best values in public colleges nationwide, according to a report released last month.

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine ranked Pitt 28th nationally among four-year public institutions that deliver the best education at the best prices for its in-state students.

The magazine considered such criteria as tuition; average student-loan debt of graduates; financial aid availability for in-state students; test scores of incoming freshmen; student-faculty ratio; four- and six-year graduation rates, and admission rates.

Fellow state-related schools Penn State-University Park was 44th overall and Temple was 94th on Kiplinger’s annual list.

“Despite rising tuition costs, there are still many first-rate institutions providing outstanding academics at an affordable price,” said Janet Bodnar, editor of Kiplinger’s. “Schools like these on the Kiplinger 100 list prove graduates can enter the workforce with a great education — and without a huge cloud of debt.”

The top five schools on the Kiplinger list are North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Florida, Virginia, William and Mary and Maryland-College Park.

According to the magazine, “Kiplinger’s bases its rankings on a combination of academics and affordability. We start with data from more than 500 public four-year schools, provided by Peterson’s/Nelnet, then add our own reporting. We narrow the list to about 120 schools based on measures of academic quality — including SAT or ACT scores, admission and retention rates, student-faculty ratios and four- and six-year graduation rates. We then rank each school based on cost and financial aid.”

Academic quality carries more weight than costs, almost two-thirds of an institution’s total score, the magazine said.

“To assess costs, we look at the total expenses for in-state students; the average cost for a student with need after subtracting grants; the average cost for a student without need after subtracting non-need-based grants; the average percentage of need met by aid, and the average debt per student at graduation.”

The rankings focus on traditional four-year schools with broad-based curricula. “Schools that offer great value but focus on special or narrow academic programs, such as the military service academies, are excluded,” the magazine stated.

Kiplinger’s also ranks the top 100 private institutions.

To view the list of the top public colleges and universities, go to www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/.

—Peter Hart