The economy may be recovering, but the effects of the recession continue to buffet the nation's public colleges and universities.
State governments, coping with shrunken tax revenues and an overwhelming demand for services, have cut funding for higher education. Universities that once relied on the income from fat endowments have yet to recoup multimillion-dollar losses to their portfolios. Families continue to apply for financial aid in record numbers. Meanwhile, enrollment at state institutions has spiked as more students go public and more people overall seek college degrees.
The schools in Kiplinger's list of the best values in public colleges and universities -- led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for overall value and by Binghamton University, part of the State University of New York, for out-of-state value -- continue to deliver strong academics at reasonable prices, in many cases by offering the same or more financial aid as in previous years. But no one can say it has been easy. (See Kiplinger's full list of the top 100 here.)
To cope with less money and more students, public institutions, including many in our rankings, have slashed operating costs and raised tuition beyond the average increase of about 5 percentage points over inflation in recent years. The University of California system, caught in the downdraft of a state budget meltdown, imposed a midyear tuition hike of 15%, to be followed by another 15% increase in the summer, precipitating statewide protests. (Our rankings reflect tuition and fees, including midyear increases, as of Dec. 1, 2009.)
In the best-case scenario, however, colleges will find more and better ways to preserve quality and eliminate fat, perhaps ultimately reducing the size or frequency of tuition increases. Some universities, including UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Maryland at College Park (No. 8 in our rankings), are already doing just that. "There's no reason we can't conduct nonacademic functions as efficiently as possible," UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp says.
In Maryland, the university system struck a bargain with state leaders in which school administrators pledged to cut costs in exchange for a steady flow of state funding. Result? In-state students enjoyed a tuition freeze for four consecutive years. (Read about Maryland's fast climb to the top 10.)
Weighing quality, cost
Our definition of value begins with academics: No school is a bargain if it skimps on quality. All of the schools in our rankings perform well on measurable criteria, such as student-faculty ratios, academic competitiveness and on-time graduation rates. (For details on how we set the standards, see "How we rank the schools.")The schools on our list also deliver an affordable education, our other measure of value, by keeping the sticker price low, offering plenty of financial aid or both. Of the colleges in our rankings, 39 charge about the same or less than the average annual in-state sticker price ($15,213) for four-year public institutions, and many come in well below that amount. Those prices look especially attractive compared with the average cost of a private-school education, which this year hit an average total of $35,636, according to the College Board.
You can also find bargains in our rankings for out-of-state students, who typically pay at least twice the price to attend someone else's home-state school. For example, Binghamton charges $26,075 a year to students who are not New York residents -- only one-third more than the in-state price. The school's large number of international students and its dual-degree programs with universities in Mexico, Russia and Turkey give the term "out of state" new meaning, but Binghamton's strong academics and affordable price attract interest from students across the U.S. as well. Says President Lois DeFleur: "With so many applications, we've become more selective. We're taking the best."
As for financial aid, the colleges on our list have managed to dig deep and dole out sufficient money to keep students coming. At UNC-Chapel Hill, an academic superstar that competes with the Ivy League, the annual in-state cost for students with financial need comes to a dirt-cheap $5,912. The University of Virginia, another public Ivy (and No. 3 on our list), and the New College of Florida (No. 12), a tiny public honors school, charge students with need an average of less than $5,000.
Unlike many top-tier private universities, some of the highly ranked institutions on our list also offer non-need-based aid to encourage top achievers to enroll in-state. "One of our responsibilities as a land-grant institution is to keep the best and the brightest," says Sarah Bauder, the director of the office of student financial aid at the University of Maryland.
UNC-Chapel Hill, which offers need-based and merit aid to both residents and nonresidents, uses 25% of the revenue from logo-bearing T-shirts and sports memorabilia to stoke its merit-scholarship fund. Tar Heel fans keep the money rolling in, says Shirley Ort, the associate provost and director of scholarships and student aid. "Luckily for us, we won a basketball championship in 2009."
Continued: UNC is still the one
