Thanks to the availability of a 2012 NY Times Table on Merit Money, we have identified the public universities that meet two criteria for providing non-need based merit aid to students: (1) at least 10 percent of freshmen receive the merit aid and (2) the merit aid covers at least 50 percent of the cost of in-state tuition and fees. (It is likely that many of the universities listed below also provide excellent merit aid for highly-qualified out-of-state students.)
After identifying the universities that meet the two criteria listed above, we then ranked and scaled them. Finally, we weighted the results so that the dollar amount of merit aid counts for two-thirds of the total. We weighted the results in this way because the 10 percent threshold for freshmen receiving aid is already high.
Here are the public universities with the best merit aid for in-state students:
1. Alabama–108% tuition and fees; 27% of freshmen
2. College of Charleston–104% tuition and fees; 23% of freshmen
3. Mississippi–100% tuition and fees; 24% of freshmen
4. Alabama Huntsville–92% tuition and fees; 27% of freshmen
5. SUNY Plattsburgh–91% tuition and fees; 28% of freshmen
6. Truman State–78% tuition and fees; 41 % of freshmen
7. LSU–91% tuition and fees; 25% of freshmen
8. UT Dallas–98% tuition and fees; 12% of freshmen
9. Arizona State–91% tuition and fees; 19% of freshmen
10. Maryland Baltimore Co–87% tuition and fees; 16% of freshmen
11. Idaho–79% tuition and fees; 23% of freshmen
12. Alabama Birmingham–76% tuition and fees; 25% of freshmen
13. Nebraska–75% tuition and fees; 25% of freshmen
14. Indiana–81% tuition and fees; 18% of freshmen
15. Arizona–73% tuition and fees; 23% of freshmen
16. Auburn–71% tuition and fees; 24% of freshmen
17. UT Permian Basin-65% tuition and fees; 28% of freshmen
In this post, we are analyzing the Kiplinger Best Values in Public Colleges rankings for 2014 to determine which universities have improved significantly over the 2103 rankings. Improvement can mean that more financial aid is available, or that costs have been trimmed, or that quality has improved–all useful for prospective students and parents.
We like to reinforce the annual Kiplinger Best Values in Public Colleges report because of its sensible combination of cost and quality metrics based on generally sound methodology. For 2014, the emphasis on cost is 45 percent, and on quality it is 55 percent. Thus the basic Kiplinger equation is: relatively low cost and relatively high quality=”best value.”
Cost includes tuition rates and financial aid that offsets those rates to yield low net cost relative to quality. The cost metric also rewards colleges that have low student loan numbers.
The quality metric includes test scores and acceptance rates; the number of those accepted who actually enroll; student to faculty ratio; and four-year graduation rates. It is possible for a university to have a tuition increase but still rise in the Kiplinger rankings because of offsetting improvements on the quality side or an increase in financial aid.
Once again, UNC Chapel Hill is rated number 1 in best value among public universities, both for in-state and out-of-state students. The University of Virginia is number 2 in both categories, and the University of Florida is number 3 in the in-state category.
Other big news is that 26 of the public universities listed in the top 100 for best value in 2014 also improved their position by 4 or more places in just one year. Another 6 universities broke into the top 100 this year. All 32 will be in bold type below.
The universities that are new to the top 100 (versus the 2013 list) are Utah, Mississippi, Texas Tech, Georgia State, SUNY Fredonia, and SUNY Plattsburgh, all of which are now among the top 100.
These universities rose 10 or more places in 2014: Northern Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri Inst of Science and Tech, LSU, Wisconsin La Crosse, Oklahoma State, and Ohio State.
The list of the top 100 best value public universities follows, with the in-state ranking first, the out-of-state ranking next, and the increase over 2013 (in-state), if any:
North Carolina–2014 in state (1), out of state (1)
Virginia–2014 in state (2), out of state (2)
Florida–2014 in state (3), out of state (7)
William & Mary–2014 in state (4), out of state (4)
UCLA–2014 in state (5), out of state (5)
Michigan–2014 in state (6), out of state (11), +5
Maryland–2014 in state (7), out of state (14)
Wisconsin–2014 in state (8), out of state (10), +5
UC Berkeley–2014 in state (9), out of state (11)
Georgia–2014 in state (10), out of state (13), +5
New College Florida–2014 in state (11), out of state (42)
Truman State–2014 in state (12), out of state (9), +7
Washington–2014 in state (13), out of state (18), +4
UC San Diego–2014 in state (14), out of state (17)
Binghamton–2014 in state (15), out of state (4)
North Carolina St–2014 in state (16), out of state (15), +5
Texas A&M–2014 in state (17), out of state (32)
UC Santa Barbara–2014 in state (18), out of state (21)
Florida State–2014 in state (19), out of state (23), +7
SUNY Geneseo–2014 in state (20), out of state (3)
UT Austin–2014 in state (21), out of state (36), +6
James Madison–2014 in state (22), out of state (29)
UC Irvine–2014 in state (23), out of state (28)
North Carolina School of the Arts–in state (24), out of state (25)
Connecticut–2014 in state (25), out of state (22)
Ohio State–2014 in state (26), out of state (24), +11
Virginia Tech–2014 in state (27), out of state (31)
N. Carolina Wilmington–2014 in state (28), out of state (26), +4
Stony Brook–2014 in state (29), out of state (20)
Appalachian State–2014 in state (30), out of state (35), +6
Clemson–2014 in state (31), out of state (39)
Delaware–2014 in state (32), out of state (30)
Georgia Tech–2014 in state (33), out of state (46)
College of New Jersey–2014 in state (34), out of state (8)
South Carolina–2014 in state (35), out of state (45)
UC Davis–2014 in state (36), out of state (30)
Indiana–2014 in state (37), out of state (63)
Illinois–2014 in state (38), out of state (27), +5
UT Dallas–2014 in state (39), out of state (58), +21
Purdue–2014 in state (40), out of state (51), +11
Delaware–2014 in state (41), out of state (57), +5
Central Florida–2014 in state (42), out of state (60)
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo–2014 in state (43), out of state (34)
Minnesota–2014 in state (44), out of state (12)
Pitt–2014 in state (45), out of state (19)
New Mexico Inst Mining & Tech–2014 in state (46), out of state (54)
Rutgers–2014 in state (47), out of state (37)
St. Mary’s Maryland–2014 in state (48), out of state (38)
SUNY New Paltz–2014 in state (49), out of state (33)
Alabama–2014 in state (50), out of state (72)
Univ at Buffalo–2014 in state (51), out of state (47)
UC Santa Cruz–2014 in state (52), out of state (65)
Penn State–2014 in state (53), out of state (41)
Miami Ohio–2014 in state (54), out of state (48)
South Florida–2014 in state (55), out of state (55)
Iowa–2014 in state (56), out of state (86)
Wisconsin La Crosse–2014 in state (57), out of state (49), +16
North Carolina Asheville–2014 in state (58), out of state (70)
Missouri–2014 in state (59), out of state (68), +7
College of Charleston–2014 in state (60), out of state (69), +8
Mary Washington–2014 in state (61), out of state (61)
Iowa State–2014 in state (61), out of state (64), +23
Salisbury Md.–2014 in state (62), out of state (44), +9
Northern Florida–2014 in state (63), out of state (64)
Oklahoma–2014 in state (64), out of state (71), +5
Ramapo–2014 in state (65), out of state (43)
Arkansas–2014 in state (67), out of state (79)
Tennessee–2014 in state (68), out of state (82)
Utah–2014 in state (69), out of state (96), not in top 100 in 2013
Mass Amherst–2014 in state (70), out of state (53)
Northern Iowa–2014 in state (71), out of state (80), +24
George Mason–2014 in state (72), out of state (90)
LSU–2014 in state (73), out of state (99), +17
SUNY Oneonta–2014 in state (74), out of state (52)
Vermont–2014 in state (75), out of state (75)
San Diego State–2014 in state (76), out of state (66)
West Chester–2014 in state (77), out of state (62)
Mississippi–2014 in state (78), out of state (84), not in top 100 in 2013
Oklahoma State–2014 in state (79), out of state (88), +14
Auburn–2014 in state (80), out of state (85)
M0. Inst Science & Tech–2014 in state (81), out of state (81), not in top 100 2013
Colorado School of Mines–2014 in state (82), out of state (82)
Nebraska–2014 in state (83), out of state (89)
Christopher Newport–2014 in state (84), out of state (56)
Univ of Science & Arts Okla–2014 in state (85), out of state (83), +6
Towson State–2014 in state (86), out of state (73)
Texas Tech–2014 in state (87), out of state (91), not in top 100 in 2013
Maryland Balt County–2014 in state (88), out of state (77)
SUNY Purchase–2014 in state (89), out of state (59)
Colorado–2014 in state (90), out of state (98)
Minnesota Morris–2014 in state (91), out of state (50)
Cal State Long Beach–2014 in state (92), out of state (87)
Western Washington–2014 in state (93), out of state (74)
Univ of North Georgia–2014 in state (94), out of state (94)
Georgia St. Col & Univ–2014 in state (95), out of state (97), not in top 100 in 2013
Cal St Poly Pomona–2014 in state (96), out of state (93)
SUNY Fredonia–2014 in state (97), out of state (67), not in top 100 in 2013
SUNY Plattsburgh–2014 in state (98), out of state (78), not in top 100 in 2013
UC Riverside–2014 in state (99), out of state (95)
Update December 10, 2019. Note: Students who received their PSAT results in December 2018 are the NMS Class of 2020. Their qualifying selection index scores are listed below, per the Compassprep website. For students who took the test in October 2019 (NMS Class of 2021), selection index scores will not be available until September 2020.
The selection index score is the sum of your three PSAT scores, maximum of 228. The first score listed is for 2020; the second was the score required for the class of 2019; and the third is the score for the class of 2018.
To qualify for a National Merit Scholarship, the PSAT must be taken in the student’s junior year of high school. Many parents may not be aware that there is no single nationwide score on the PSAT that will qualify a student to become a NMS semifinalist, a critical preliminary step on the way to becoming a finalist and then perhaps a merit scholar.
Students are classified according to the state in which they attend high school, not the state of actual residence.
Semifinalists emerge from the top 3-4% of students (50,000 or so) taking the test, by virtue of the PSAT score alone. The top 3-4% of students earn “commended” status, and there is a national uniform score for commended students=209 for 2017. (See below for SAT equivalent.) Semifinalists, on the other hand, account for fewer than 1% of all students, or about 16,000 nationwide.
From these students, the merit scholar foundation, using state allocation levels, selects about 15,000 to become finalists; and from this group, about 9,000 are actually selected as merit scholars, based on both PSAT and SAT scores and a letter of recommendation from the high school principal. Therefore, many students who meet the semifinalist thresholds listed below do not go on to become finalists or merit scholars (two different things, though for some schools being a finalist is sufficient to earn support). We speculate that meaningful improvement on the SAT, taken in the spring of the junior year, relative to the PSAT score from the preceding October, may help in identifying students who go beyond finalist status and become merit scholars.
Each state has its own threshold PSAT score, which is the baseline for students to be considered as semifinalists in a given state. The scores vary widely for the NMS classof 2020, from 2012 in West Virginia to 223 in New Jersey.
Eleven of the 34 Marshall Scholars for 2014 are from public universities. The Marshall Scholarship is one of the most prestigious in the world, providing full funding for two years of study at major universities in the United Kingdom. At least eight of the 11 winners from state universities are enrolled in honors colleges or programs. The most recent list is below:
Shama Ams – Saint John’s University
School of Oriental and African Studies
John ‘Russell’ Beaumont – University of Texas Austin, Plan II Honors/Architecture
University of Manchester
Alyssa Bilinski – Yale University
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Alexander Brammer – United States Military Academy
University of Oxford
Andrew Bulovsky – University of Wisconsin –Madison
London School of Economics and Political Science
Rhaina Cohen – Northwestern University
University of Oxford
Tantum Collins -Yale University
University of Oxford
Patrick Donnan – Auburn University, Honors College, Physics/Music
University of Oxford
Natalia Emanuel – Yale University
University of Oxford
Mailyn Fidler – Stanford University
University of Oxford
Chelsea Glenn – Northwestern University
University of Oxford
Bradford Hackert – United States Air Force Academy
King’s College London
Erin Hylton – University of Maryland – College Park Honors College (also winner of Udall and Boren awards)
Imperial College London
Wei Jia – Stanford University
University of Oxford
Catherine Koch – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of Oxford
Dixon Li – Princeton University
Queen Mary, University of London
Brandon Liu – Harvard University
School of Oriental and African Studies
Colleen Loynachan – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Imperial College London
Matthew McMillan – Wheaton College
University of Cambridge
Ahmad Nasir – United States Military Academy
University of Oxford
Mike Norton – University of Arkansas – Fayetteville, Honors College
University of Oxford
Samantha Olyha – Cornell University
University of Oxford
Derek Park – Yale University
University of Oxford
Craig Pearson – Michigan State University, Honors College, also interviewed for a Rhodes Scholarship
University of Cambridge
Rebecca Peters – University of California – Berkeley (also a Truman Scholar in 2013)
University of Manchester
Joana Petrescu – Villanova University
University of Cambridge
Nicholas Picon – Georgia Institute of Technology, Aerospace Engineering
Cranfield University
Madeline Sands – Arizona State University, Barrett Honors College, Anthropology
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Emily Shearer – Cornell University
University of Cambridge
Kirin Sinha – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of Cambridge
Phillip Tucciarone – State University of New York – Buffalo, Honors College Chemical and Biological Engineering
University of Oxford
Jacob Wellman – University of New Mexico, Regents Scholar University Honors Program, Economics/Political Science
London School of Economics and Political Science
Anna Wherry – Johns Hopkins University
University of Oxford
Grace Young – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of Oxford
Editor’s Note: The following post is by Marcene Robinson of the University at Buffalo.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Phillip Tucciarone, a University at Buffalo chemical and biological engineering student, has won a Marshall Scholarship, one of the most prestigious scholarships awarded annually to U.S. college students.
Tucciarone is the first UB student to win a Marshall Scholarship since 1988 and is also a 2013 recipient of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship.
Up to 40 American students are awarded a Marshall Scholarship each year.
The Marshall Scholarship will finance Tucciarone’s graduate study at a university in the United Kingdom, where he plans to study materials science. Marshall Scholars now can be found among CEOs, Supreme Court justices, members of the U.S. Congress, Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and members of the U.S. Presidential Cabinet.
“This feels incredible and is a wonderful surprise, to be honest,” said Tucciarone, who will leave for London in September. “The award secures an exciting academic future for me over the next four years and makes a statement about the value of public higher education.”
A senior, Tucciarone is from Washingtonville in Orange County, N.Y., and is a graduate of Washingtonville High School.
The Marshall Scholarship is widely considered one of the most prestigious scholarships in the world, and works to strengthen the relationship between British and American citizens, and their governments and institutions.
“The Marshall Scholarship is a mark of great distinction — these are not just some of the nation’s best and brightest young scholars, they are intellectually passionate, globally minded students dedicated to enriching the world around them,” said UB President Satish K. Tripathi. “This is exactly the kind of student that UB excels in educating.
Inspired by a desire to become a professor of materials science, Tucciarone will use the Marshall Scholarship to pursue a doctorate degree in materials science at either the University of Oxford or the Imperial College of London. He plans to join the groundbreaking research currently underway on graphene, one of the crystalline forms of carbon.
Graphene is considered the material of the future, Tucciarone said. It has the potential to make electronics much faster, for example, and its most immediate use can be found in transistors, radio frequency devices and computer chips.
“If copper is your grandma’s Buick, then graphene is the new Ferrari,” he said.
Tucciarone has devoted much of his undergraduate research to nanomaterials and the development of methods of non-toxic bio-imaging, which play a role in cancer treatment. He has also co-authored and published two academic papers on his research in ACS Nano and Nano Letters, both monthly, peer-reviewed, scientific journals published by the American Chemical Society.
“In my 20-plus years teaching at UB, I’ve never seen such a display of leadership in one of my students,” says David Kofke, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering. “It is heartening to see this in an engineering student, where the workload promotes immersion in coursework without allowing time to take in the larger picture in life, let alone participate in it.”
A UB Honors College scholar, Tucciarone is president of the Honors Student Council, and works with inner city public schools through UB’s Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Partnership, funded by the National Science Foundation, which seeks to improve science education in Buffalo Public Schools.
As a junior, he founded an annual volunteer service trip to the Dominican Republic through the Honors Student Council, where he and other UB students helped teach English to children.
Tucciarone said he was inspired to pursue a career in higher education by his experiences at UB, combined with his volunteer work in Buffalo Public Schools and the Dominican Republic.
“The faculty at UB is incredible,” said Tucciarone. “I never felt disconnected from them and they engaged me from day one in the classroom and as personal mentors.
“Education is the strongest mechanism for change in the world,” he added. “I want to bridge the gap between the United States and U.K. as a diplomat, gain experience, and work as a bridge for bilateral research and higher education.”
Education and science are just a few of Tucciarone’s many passions. He is starting winger for UB’s rugby team, and hopes to play for the Oxford Blues, the University of Oxford’s rugby team, when he moves to England next fall. A jazz enthusiast, Tucciarone played trombone and bass in a swing band, and bass in a blues/rock band, Blank Check, in Washingtonville.
The highly competitive Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was founded in 1986 with the goal of alleviating the critical shortage of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers.
Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on the Clemson website.
Civil engineering student Kate Gasparro has backpacked through Europe, studied abroad in Strasbourg, France, and helped build a schoolhouse in Nicaragua. Attending Clemson is the biggest part of what’s made those distant travels and many of the experiences that came before, during and after them possible
When Gasparro first began looking at colleges, she knew she wanted to pursue a degree that let her think big. As the daughter of two civil engineers, she also knew that a civil engineering program would help her do that: “Civil engineers are the ones who build the big things that we use everyday, and we make a difference,” she explains.
She visited 25 colleges before she landed at Clemson her senior year of high school. By the time she left Clemson’s campus, she knew she’d found her college home. Today, the Huntington Beach, California, native is only a semester away from graduating with a Clemson degree in civil engineering and a minor in international relations.
And just as she’d hoped, she’ll be leaving this place with a lot more than just a diploma in her hand. She’s moving forward with a portfolio of experience she can’t imagine having received anywhere else.
“It’s not about the name on the diploma. It’s about the experience you have there,” Gasparro offers. “Clemson helped me shape my future and where I want to go and who I want to be.”
The Calhoun Honors College has been an important part of that experience, with its small class sizes that allow personal, passionate and intellectual relationships with the University’s best and brightest, she says. For Gasparro, that meant spending her freshman year taking general engineering courses alongside honors classes, including a medieval history class with one of Clemson’s Harvard-educated professors. There, she and seven other students engaged in discussions about how war influences culture.
That same year, she and fewer than 10 other students studied Russian literature and philosophy as a part of the Dixon Fellow program, which “allows students to learn for the sake of learning,” Gasparro explains. “It expanded my own worldview and sparked my love of philosophy.”
Her Clemson experience has also meant getting involved in everything she wanted to be involved with. On the academic front, she is one of 12 Dixon Global Policy Scholars, a Coca-Cola Scholar and a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa leadership fraternity. She’s served as treasurer and Latin American project leader for Engineers Without Borders, as well as vice president of the Alpha Lambda Delta honor society. And she stays involved with a variety of student groups including the Clemson University Student Alumni Council, not to mention University tour guides, Tiger Band, symphonic band, orchestra and the Hillel Jewish Organization.
“Getting involved is a great way to meet these people and realize your own potential,” she says. “You feel such a greater tie to the University when you are involved, and it makes you be a better student because you can see the impact you make. You can tie your extracurricular experiences into your academic curriculum, making theory into practice and deepening your broader understanding.”
Even with all the accolades and experiences, Gasparro’s favorite thing about Clemson isn’t just one thing: it’s the people. Sure, the University’s president knows her by name, but so do countless other students, staff and faculty who share her appreciation for community, not to mention her love of Clemson.
“Clemson invests in people. You’re never just a number,” she explains. “They make that personal connection, and it’s all about that Clemson Family.”
Gasparro’s travels abroad have provided some of her most significant academic opportunities. As a Dixon Global Policy Scholar, she was able to complete a short-term study abroad in Strasbourg, where she met with officials from the European Union, Parliament and NATO to learn how international policy is made. After interacting with French and German students, she and some of her classmates backpacked throughout Europe, and during those travels she also completed course work in enlightenment philosophy and public policy.
Gasparro also joined Engineers Without Borders and started the student organization’s first Latin American project. Leading a group of six other students, she located a nonprofit already doing work in Nicaragua. They partnered with them in early September 2011, and a few months later, Clemson’s first Engineers Without Borders team traveled to the Central American country to lay the foundation for a schoolhouse there. She returned to the country again the summer before her senior year.
“I’ve learned what it means to partner with people who have a different culture and history, and work with them to construct something sustainable,” Gasparro says.
These days, she prides herself on being smiling, enthusiastic proof that a challenging degree doesn’t have to take away from the “college experience.”
“College is what you make of it,” Gasparro offers. “Being involved and in a challenging degree is all about time management and understanding your own abilities. Being able to relate your extracurricular experience to your classes and understanding the value in having both is key to making the most of your time.
“College is what you make of it. Why not make the most of those four years of your life?”
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