Tag Archives: best value colleges

Best Value-Added Honors Programs 2014

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Part of our rating of honors colleges and programs involves a statistical comparison of the honors rating to the perception of the university as a whole.  The “perception” baseline is the U.S. News ranking of the university, although we certainly do not believe that the magazine ranking is accurate or definitive when it comes to many public universities.

On a scale of 5, here are the comparative ratings for 11 honors programs that provide the most significant “value-added” component to the universities of which they are a part:

Arizona State, Barrett Honors College: U.S. News University Ranking=2.5; Honors Rating=5.

Mississippi, Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College: U.S. News University Ranking=2.0; Honors Rating=4.5

Texas Tech Honors College: U.S. News University Ranking=2.0; Honors Rating=4.5

Univ of Arkansas Honors College: U.S. News University Ranking=2.5; Honors Rating=4.5

Ohio University Honors Tutorial College: U.S. News University Ranking=2.5; Honors Rating=4.5

Oregon State, University Honors College: U.S. News University Ranking=2.5; Honors Rating=4.5

South Carolina Honors College: U.S. News University Ranking=3.0; Honors Rating=5.0

Kansas (KU) Honors Program: U.S. News University Ranking=3.5; Honors Rating=5.0

Oregon, Clark Honors College: U.S. News University Ranking=3.0; Honors Rating=4.5

Oklahoma State Honors College: U.S. News University Ranking=2.5; Honors Rating=4.0

Temple University Honors Program: U.S. News University Ranking=3.0; Honors Rating=4.5

Princeton Review 2013 Best Public Values: UVA, UNC Chapel Hill

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The 2013 Princeton Review “Best Value” Public Universities list has changed somewhat from the previous edition, with the University of Virginia taking over the number one spot from UNC Chapel Hill, which is now ranked number 2.

Below are the best values from the 2014 edition, along with a side by side list showing the schools in the same slots in 2013.  Changes in best value lists can be more meaningful than some other ranking changes because the best value lists are based on tuition, loan, net cost, and other financial metrics.  The Princeton Review best value rankings are unique, however, in that they also consider student views of how interesting and accessible professors are.

2014 (1) Virginia; 2013 (1) UNC Chapel Hill

2014 (2) UNC Chapel Hill; 2013 (2) Virginia

2014 (3) New College of Florida; 2013 (3) New College of Florida

2014 (4) William & Mary; 2013 (4) Binghamton

2014 (5) UCLA; 2013 (5) Wisconsin

2014 (6) NC State; 2013 (6) William & Mary

2014 (7) Wisconsin; 2013 (7) Florida

2014 (8) Binghamton; 2013 (8) Georgia

2014 (9) Michigan; 2013 (9) Washington

2014 (10) Georgia; 2013 (10) UT Austin

The Review lists an additional 65 public universities, in alphabetical order, that are also best values, but does not rank them within that group. Below are the universities that we follow that are on this second list:

Arkansas, Central Florida, Clemson, College of Charleston, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Houston, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa State, LSU, Maryland, Massachusetts Amherst, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Pitt, Purdue, South Carolina, Stony Brook, SUNY Buffalo, Tennessee, Texas A&M, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UT Austin, Virginia Tech, Washington, and Washington State.