Kiplinger's Best College Values

Compare the 100 top values in public colleges and universities, or create your own custom lists of individual colleges or schools from a particular state.

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.

Public Colleges

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	Salary yardstick^#
1	1	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	27%	84%	$22,165	$4,905	$47,748	$30,488	$20,852	$54,100
2	2	University of Florida	FL	46	67	17,501	10,418	39,779	32,696	21,645	53,100
3	3	University of Virginia	VA	30	88	29,321	8,341	59,856	38,876	24,598	60,700
4	15	University of Michigan	MI	29	76	27,072	9,399	59,722	42,049	25,712	60,100
5	5	University of California, Berkeley	CA	17	76	30,780	13,548	58,794	41,562	18,789	61,800
6	12	University of California, Los Angeles	CA	18	74	30,066	10,489	58,080	38,503	21,323	58,700
7	17	University of Washington	WA	45	65	23,916	8,916	48,480	33,480	21,900	54,800
8	29	University of Texas at Austin	TX	40	55	21,130	11,543	47,476	37,889	25,338	54,900
9	7	North Carolina State University	NC	46	47	20,994	10,990	39,342	29,338	21,507	49,300
10	16	University of Maryland, College Park	MD	48	69	23,731	14,287	46,938	37,494	27,559	61,700
11	9	College of William and Mary	VA	37	85	35,243	19,351	56,298	40,406	26,400	55,400
12	11	University of Georgia	GA	54	63	22,864	13,748	41,438	32,322	21,730	48,500
13	19	University of Wisconsin—Madison	WI	53	57	22,575	11,632	46,825	35,882	27,831	54,200
14	4	Florida State University	FL	58	61	17,965	8,965	33,131	24,131	23,679	44,900
15	25	Purdue University	IN	56	49	21,192	7,788	39,994	26,590	27,530	55,000
16	28	New College of Florida	FL	71	54	17,380	8,548	40,408	31,576	16,577	NA
17	20	Georgia Institute of Technology	GA	26	41	24,710	13,640	45,306	34,236	32,169	75,800
18	6	Binghamton University, State University of New York	NY	41	71	25,100	16,433	39,980	31,313	25,718	59,200
19	8	Truman State University	MO	68	57	17,636	10,000	24,420	16,784	24,811	43,700
20	37	University of California, San Diego	CA	36	59	28,555	10,143	56,569	38,157	21,830	58,600
21	14	New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology	NM	23	19	16,491	10,829	30,299	24,637	20,759	52,900
22	33	University of California, Santa Barbara	CA	36	69	31,770	12,771	59,784	40,785	21,001	52,500
23	10	University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus	MN	44	61	25,269	15,129	37,455	27,315	26,644	49,800
24	64	Texas A&M University	TX	66	52	21,633	11,396	48,384	38,147	24,072	55,500
25	24	Ohio State University	OH	54	59	24,077	14,529	43,181	33,633	27,930	43,700
26	42	University of California, Irvine	CA	41	71	28,770	9,621	56,784	37,635	20,466	55,100
27	13	California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo	CA	29	48	24,431	20,907	36,311	32,787	22,413	63,100
28	39	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	71	61	23,070	16,067	40,854	33,851	28,884	60,500
29	22	Appalachian State University	NC	68	49	16,177	6,324	30,984	21,131	22,058	36,800
30	18	University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign	IL	60	70	28,376	14,132	44,496	30,252	25,222	57,600
31	35	Clemson University	SC	51	59	25,650	16,588	46,592	37,530	30,136	50,900
32	34	Stony Brook University, State University of New York	NY	41	52	23,603	15,376	41,113	32,886	24,656	55,100
33	86	Indiana University Bloomington	IN	79	60	21,825	10,842	46,137	35,154	28,039	46,100
34	31	Rutgers University—New Brunswick	NJ	57	59	28,440	17,041	44,381	32,982	25,975	56,400
35	38	University of Connecticut	CT	49	70	28,244	17,711	50,312	39,779	28,147	55,800
36	41	University of Central Florida	FL	50	40	17,531	11,875	33,630	27,974	21,911	43,300
37	21	College of New Jersey	NJ	49	75	30,549	18,598	41,978	30,027	35,798	56,200
38	43	University of Delaware	DE	65	71	26,292	17,012	46,282	37,002	33,150	55,100
39	23	University of South Florida	FL	47	44	17,935	10,571	28,849	21,485	22,337	41,800
40	81	Michigan State University	MI	66	52	25,520	15,337	50,465	40,282	31,579	51,500
41	54	University of Texas at Dallas	TX	68	51	24,840	15,721	46,956	37,837	20,432	51,100
42	63	James Madison University	VA	72	65	21,668	14,368	38,032	30,732	28,407	53,800
43	32	University of Pittsburgh	PA	55	64	30,803	21,514	42,365	33,076	38,612	50,700
44	27	Baruch College of the City University of New York	NY	31	39	25,525	18,256	36,395	29,126	7,915	55,300
45	30	Hunter College of the City University of New York	NY	39	24	16,999	9,244	27,869	20,114	13,000	45,100
46	50	University of South Carolina	SC	68	54	22,914	17,766	43,014	37,866	29,012	43,000
47	84	University of California, Davis	CA	42	55	31,771	13,500	59,785	41,514	19,276	56,300
48	59	University of Alabama	AL	53	44	21,954	10,357	39,274	27,677	33,816	42,700
49	67	University of Utah	UT	76	29	19,923	12,894	39,166	32,137	21,081	51,000
50	36	Miami University	OH	65	66	29,476	19,389	48,728	38,641	29,956	45,200
51	58	Penn State University Park	PA	56	68	31,556	23,871	46,784	39,099	37,213	48,500
52	49	University of Oklahoma	OK	70	40	22,771	16,673	38,152	32,054	28,444	48,700
53	26	State University of New York College at Geneseo	NY	67	71	22,622	20,380	32,272	30,030	24,784	46,700
54	70	University at Buffalo, State University of New York	NY	59	58	24,787	17,625	42,297	35,135	19,500	49,900
55	92	University of Iowa	IA	81	48	20,365	12,966	42,009	34,610	27,715	50,200
56	55	Florida International University	FL	49	25	18,944	13,290	31,342	25,688	19,915	44,200
57	44	University of Massachusetts Amherst	MA	60	67	28,854	18,605	46,920	36,671	31,397	49,700
58	48	Western Carolina University	NC	41	37	17,287	6,365	27,680	16,758	20,201	36,200
59	57	University of Arkansas	AR	63	42	20,812	13,787	36,058	29,033	24,182	43,100
60	53	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	MD	57	38	24,204	15,789	38,340	29,925	25,322	54,100
61	71	University of North Carolina at Asheville	NC	78	39	17,601	10,823	34,324	27,546	22,026	34,200
62	68	University of North Carolina Wilmington	NC	72	53	17,910	12,815	31,926	26,831	25,112	39,600
63	46	Iowa State University of Science and Technology	IA	87	44	18,176	11,051	32,012	24,887	28,617	48,600
64	45	University of Wisconsin—La Crosse	WI	82	36	15,248	10,436	23,917	19,105	26,487	44,700
65	52	Louisiana Tech University	LA	63	34	18,786	8,746	27,699	17,659	23,001	41,000
66	97	University of California, Santa Cruz	CA	59	52	31,235	11,194	59,249	39,208	22,582	43,700
67	60	University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma	OK	66	28	14,200	4,843	24,470	15,113	22,760	32,300
68	94	University of Colorado Boulder	CO	77	47	27,884	16,858	52,018	40,992	27,405	48,100
69	65	Auburn University	AL	81	47	25,500	17,810	44,172	36,482	28,170	47,100
70	47	California State University, Long Beach	CA	32	14	21,206	14,689	31,682	25,165	15,165	47,100
71	62	University of North Florida	FL	65	26	17,366	11,516	31,770	25,920	18,685	42,100
72	51	Ramapo College of New Jersey	NJ	53	61	27,829	18,284	36,963	27,418	11,275	48,000
73	74	University of Louisville	KY	73	28	20,594	11,428	35,616	26,450	23,553	40,300
74	69	University of Missouri	MO	75	44	21,835	12,028	38,554	28,747	26,685	46,100
75	78	University of Mississippi	MS	78	37	19,992	11,431	35,256	26,695	28,162	41,100
76	73	State University of New York at New Paltz	NY	43	54	22,455	17,439	32,105	27,089	26,283	43,700
77	75	Queens College of the City University of New York	NY	41	31	23,854	16,071	34,724	26,941	14,383	47,400
78	61	St. Mary's College of Maryland	MD	80	65	28,112	18,304	43,563	33,755	24,213	48,100
79	40	University of Minnesota, Morris	MN	58	51	22,122	12,027	24,142	14,047	25,732	39,500
80	93	University of Vermont	VT	69	62	30,962	15,315	54,578	38,931	26,964	45,200
81	85	Oklahoma State University	OK	75	39	18,566	11,273	33,604	26,311	24,252	44,300
82	66	Christopher Newport University	VA	62	63	26,122	19,391	38,318	31,587	30,451	43,600
83	80	University of Nebraska—Lincoln	NE	75	36	20,955	13,476	36,255	28,776	23,231	43,700
84	90	Arizona State University at the West campus	AZ	78	45	22,638	14,033	38,375	29,770	22,251	45,400
85	76	University of Tennessee	TN	77	43	25,264	15,504	43,684	33,924	24,420	43,400
86	82	Purchase College, State University of New York	NY	44	54	23,082	13,358	32,732	23,008	31,188	35,800
87	56	San Diego State University	CA	35	34	25,280	15,680	37,160	27,560	19,969	48,300
88	72	Arizona State University at the Tempe campus	AZ	83	50	24,126	14,052	40,706	30,632	22,903	45,400
89	91	University of Houston	TX	59	23	21,806	13,685	37,256	29,135	23,665	49,900
90	89	Georgia State University	GA	53	23	15,879	10,882	25,166	20,169	29,959	41,200
91	83	Temple University	PA	52	44	29,336	22,524	41,096	34,284	37,708	48,600
92	79	Western Washington University	WA	83	40	20,238	11,239	34,750	25,751	19,727	44,400
93	88	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College	LA	76	42	24,284	13,264	40,961	29,941	24,699	47,600
94	95	University of North Georgia	GA	66	28	19,166	16,305	32,978	30,117	10,062	40,600
95	98	University of Mary Washington	VA	74	62	23,965	20,613	39,211	35,859	19,444	50,500
96	87	State University of New York College at Oneonta	NY	53	58	22,160	14,921	31,810	24,571	27,045	42,000
97	99	University of Oregon	OR	78	50	25,146	16,826	48,186	39,866	25,542	43,200
98	77	Salisbury University	MD	66	47	22,432	16,389	31,472	25,429	26,940	47,800
99	100	George Mason University	VA	81	47	24,214	17,801	46,660	40,247	30,132	58,100
100	96	University at Albany, State University of New York	NY	54	56	24,154	16,394	39,034	31,274	21,217	50,600

Cost Data - through November 17, 2017.
# - Based on the median earnings of workers who started at a particular college 10 years earlier and who received federal financial aid. The data don't consider whether the student graduated or went on to graduate school.
NA - Information not available.

SOURCES - Peterson's Databases (© 2018 Peterson's LLC. All rights reserved.), U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.

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Tool | December 2017

Kiplinger's Best College Values

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