Pitt Ranked a Best Value in Public Higher Education

PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh ranks as the top value in Pennsylvania for in-state students, the nation’s 8th-best value for out-of-state students, and the country’s 28th-best value for in-state students in The Kiplinger 100: Best Values in Public Colleges, 2010-11, published in the February 2011 issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, currently available on newsstands. The rankings can be accessed online at www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges. 

In the best value for in-state students ranking, the only other Pennsylvania public research universities listed in the top 100 were Penn State at 44th and Temple at 94th. 

In the best value for out-of-state students ranking, the only public research universities listed ahead of Pitt were the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Virginia, the University of Maryland at College Park, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. In this category, Pitt ranked ahead of such other renowned public research universities as Minnesota, Wisconsin, UCLA, Berkeley, Penn State, Ohio State, and Michigan State. 

Kiplinger’s, which has been producing its Best Values in Public Colleges rankings since 1998, calls the top 100 institutions in its listing “four-year institutions that deliver a stellar education at an affordable price.” According to Kiplinger’s, schools in the top 100 were “selected from a pool of more than 500 public four-year colleges and universities” with rankings based 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. 

“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.” 

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