Six Florida Schools Named Best Values

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Century Tower at the University of Florida

The University of Florida is the second-best college value for in-state students in the country, according to Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was the top-ranked school.

New College in Sarasota was close behind, ranked 5th overall for in-state tuition value.

Kiplinger‘s said they altered the rankings this year to reflect the economy and a growing concern about post-collegiate debt:

Given these hard times in higher ed, the word value takes on special resonance. We’ve retooled our rankings to give more weight to criteria we consider crucial to academic value, including the percentage of students who return for sophomore year and the four-year graduation rate.

Each category measures a college’s ability to keep students engaged and on track for graduation. On the cost side, we continue to reward colleges with low sticker prices and abundant financial aid. But now, as student debt grows worrisome, we give bonus points to colleges that keep borrowing low.

Florida had six schools in the top 100.

Florida State University was 18th, Central Florida was 39th, University of North Florida was 63rd and the University of South Florida was 87th.

Check out the Florida schools facts and figures here.