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

Talk about creative financing. The mortgage industry has nothing on public colleges and universities, which have used lottery tickets, T-shirts, baseball caps and private fundraisers to hold down costs and boost financial aid.

State budget crises pushed up average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges by 57% over the past five years, reports the College Board. At the same time, many colleges have cut financial aid, some by 20% to 40%.

But with an average annual tuition of $5,491, public colleges still beat the $21,235 tab you'd pay at a private school. And some of the best public colleges in the country now guarantee that students whose families earn less than $38,000 per year won't have to take out any loans. That includes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which for the fifth straight time tops Kiplinger's list as the best value among the nation's public colleges and universities.

In addition, more states are luring top talent away from private colleges by giving a free ride to students with stellar SAT scores or a high school grade point average of 3.0 or higher. Fourteen states offer statewide merit scholarships, generally funded by lottery income, of which Georgia's HOPE scholarship is probably the best known.

Carolina green

In our exclusive survey, we identified the 100 schools that offer the best combination of high-quality academics and affordable costs. Top-ranked UNC has kept its price well below average -- charging about $4,600 for in-state tuition and fees in the 2005-06 academic year (and $12,029 per year when you add in room, board and books) -- while providing generous financial assistance. It's the only school in our survey that meets 100% of each student's financial need. (Need is the difference between a college's cost and the amount that formulas calculate a family can afford to pay.) It's more common for colleges to meet 80% of need or less.

Since our last survey in 2003, UNC has actually beefed up its financial aid. In fact, average debt per student at graduation has declined since our first comprehensive survey in 1998 ($11,519, versus $12,478 in 1998).

For the 2004 school year, UNC introduced its Carolina Covenant, under which it guaranteed to meet, without loans, 100% of the need for every accepted freshman whose family earns less than 150% of the federal poverty level. Since then, the universities of Virginia and Maryland, plus schools in a few other states, have introduced similar programs. In 2005, UNC expanded its covenant to include families earning 200% of the federal poverty level, or $37,700 for a family of four. That guarantee applies to students from any state. Almost 10% of the members of this year's freshman class are receiving aid under the covenant program, and almost half of those students are the first members of their families to get a college education.

One student who's benefiting is sophomore Nayeli Lozada, 20, who moved from Mexico City to Siler City, N.C., four years ago and graduated seventh in her high school class. Lozada says she always wanted to go to UNC, but even with a scholarship from her hometown, she didn't think she could afford Chapel Hill. Then she received an aid package worth about $14,000 a year, which allowed her to avoid taking out any loans.

Lozada was also part of a faculty mentoring program, which helped her "smooth out the transition and make the right choices." And because she didn't have to work full-time over the summer to pay for school, she was able to study Latin American political science at a university in Chile. She'd like to do research in Brazil next year, and to go to graduate school eventually to study international affairs. "People shouldn't be discouraged by the cost," says Lozada. "The help is there."

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.

With just 5,375 students and a picturesque campus in the Genesee Valley, about 30 miles outside of Rochester, N.Y., Geneseo competes against small, private liberal-arts colleges in the Northeast. It recruits top students -- 80% of incoming freshmen have SAT scores of 600 or higher on the math exam, and 77% score 600 or better on the verbal exam.

Geneseo focuses primarily on undergraduates, offering small classes and top-notch professors. No classes are taught by teaching assistants, and very few by part-time instructors.

The accessible faculty appealed to Mallory Howe, 20, a sophomore majoring in biology and studio arts. She chose Geneseo over private liberal-arts colleges such as Bucknell and Carleton.

Although cost wasn't an issue for Howe, Geneseo's low price tag was a bonus. "It was a surprise to find out that it's a great school and I don't have to worry so much about money," says Howe, who lives in Penfield, N.Y. Matthew Kowalik, an 18-year-old freshman from Pembroke, N.H., was looking for a school in the Northeast that offered an undergraduate degree in biophysics. The valedictorian of his 275-member high school class, Kowalik fell in love with Geneseo, which reminded him of his small-town home in New Hampshire.

Kowalik received a $2,000 scholarship, which makes Geneseo's price tag about the same as he'd pay at the University of New Hampshire, which is much bigger and doesn't have the program he wanted. He was also offered a scholarship from the University of Rochester, but Geneseo's tuition was about one-third as much. "I'm thankful I was able to find this school," says Kowalik. "It's one of the most competitive." And the money he's saving will help pay for grad school.

-- Melissa Steeley and Christine M. Varner contributed to compiling data for this special report.

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