Kiplinger’s Ranks New College of Florida #5 among Nation’s Top 100 Values

New College of Florida once again has earned distinction as one the nation’s leading colleges and universities, as Kiplinger’s Personal Finance today ranked the Florida honors college number 5 on its list of the “Top 100 Best Values” among public colleges and universities.

The ranking marked the fifth consecutive time that New College has placed among the nation’s “Top 10” colleges in the Kiplinger’s survey. This year’s ranking was an improvement of one position from last year’s #6 ranking in the magazine.

Published in the February 2008 issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance—for sale on newsstands Tuesday, January 8th—editors of the magazine used data collected from 500 public, four-year colleges and universities from around the country to identify the top 100 schools based on outstanding academic quality, plus an affordable price tag.

“Despite rising tuition costs, there are still many first-rate institutions providing outstanding academics at an affordable price,” said Fred Frailey, editor of Kiplinger’s. “Schools like these prove graduates can enter the workforce with a great education—and without a huge cloud of debt looming.”

The total cost for students paying in-state at New College is $11,605 per year, while out-of-state students pay less than $30,000, according to the magazine.

Joining New College among this year’s Top 5 was another Florida school. The University of Florida placed number 2 in the rankings for the second consecutive year. Other Florida colleges ranked among the nation’s Top 100 colleges were Florida State University (15) University of South Florida (79) and Florida International (81).

Among the measures of academic quality tested by Kiplinger’s were the percentage of the 2006-07 freshman class scoring 600 or higher on the verbal and math components of the SAT (or 24 or higher on the ACT), admission and retention rates, student-faculty ratios and four- and six-year graduation rates. The magazine then ranked each school based on cost and financial aid, giving more weight to academic quality than costs.

Here is a look at the nation’s “Top 10 Best Values” according to the editors at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance:

1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2. University of Florida
3. University of Virginia
4. College of William and Mary (Va.)
5. New College of Florida
6. SUNY Geneseo
7. University of Georgia
8. SUNY Binghamton
9. University of Washington
10. University of California, Los Angeles