The University of Mary Washington is listed among Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine’s “100 Best Values in Public Colleges” for 2012.
The university ranks fifth among Virginia’s best values and 44th out of 100 four-year public institutions nationwide when comparing tuition costs, according to the February 2012 issue of Kiplinger’s. The list is available online at www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges.
“Given these hard times in higher ed, the word ‘value’ takes on special resonance,” said Jane Bennett Clark, senior editor of Kiplinger’s, in the magazine article.
The magazine selects the best values from a pool of more than 500 public four-year colleges and universities, ranking them on academic quality, including admission and retention rates, student-faculty ratios and four- and six-year graduation rates, as well as on cost and financial aid.
Other Virginia schools on the in-state “best value” list include the University of Virginia (3) and the College of William and Mary (4).
Of the Virginia schools listed, UMW has the lowest average debt at graduation. That figure is $15,600, which is less than the total cost per year for an in-state student to attend Mary Washington. By contrast, other notable Virginia best value schools have average debts ranging from $19,400 (U.Va.) to $21,367 (William and Mary).
UMW has appeared consistently on Kiplinger’s best value list and has been ranked among its top 50 values since 2006. The university continuously ranks high in selective college guidebooks, including in the Princeton Review’s 2012 edition of “The Best 376 Colleges” and Forbes.com’s list of “The Top 100 Best Buy Colleges.” For two years in a row, Mary Washington has been the only institution in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia named as a “Best Buy School” in the Fiske Guide to Colleges.
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News release prepared by: Brynn Boyer
