The 100 best values in public colleges

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/Cutcollegecosts/P140883.asp?GT1=7618

[quoote]
Our fifth ranking of 100 schools that offer academic excellence at an affordable price finds a familiar name at the top of the list. See if your state school is a contender.

But with an average annual tuition of $5,491, public colleges still beat the $21,235 tab you'd pay at a private school. And some of the best public colleges in the country now guarantee that students whose families earn less than $38,000 per year won't have to take out any loans. That includes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which for the fifth straight time tops Kiplinger's list as the best value among the nation's public colleges and universities.[/quote]

learner

 

Good advice

Ditto for law schools. If you can get in, go to YOUR STATE school.

Exceptions:

1) You are seriously interested in a career teaching academic subjects in a law school;

2) You are driven to make a LOT of money and Wall Street looks good to you;

3) Your LSAT scores and undergrad GPA make you so attractive that lower tier private schools will grant (not loan) you most or all of your tuition just to get you to attend;

4) You live in California; or

5) You are tough and determined enough to want to work days and earn your J.D. in a four year night program.

 

This is a great thread!

Yes, indeed, publicly-supported, state schools do offer great value, educationally and financially.

Kiplinger's personal finance publication, as used by msn.com in the starting thread, is a great service to many students, adult learners, and households in the US.

The good thing, too, is that many of these higher-quality, great value, good accessibility state schools and colleges, even if traditional and mostly B&M, do now offer, and are increasingly offering, DL and online education alternatives, especially for the adult learner.

(I guess I must disclose that I have an interest since I do teach in one of them, in Maryland State! - but I also teach in a higher-priced private school. At least they allow me a front-row seat to provide some observations and experiences on the quality therein - and in several others).

Thanks.

 

My alma mater, Washington, made the list.

It has to be pointed out that 83% of U Dub's operating budget is derived from private funding. http://uwfoundation.org/campaign_progress.asp

This raises the question: what makes a "public" school?

 

Hi Steve,

You hit the nail on the head. Proprietary schools are much more accomodating to student needs and flexible with scheudling. I've had several students come over from George Mason because they said the administration was disorganized and they felt like a number while in class.

It's too bad they don't realize that schools like GMU have satellites that are organized like propreitary schools and serve their students much better than the main campus. GMU just put a center here in Loudoun, so now we really have a University row in the span of less than 2 miles:

ODU
NVCC
GMU
GWU
Strayer
Marymount

All RA, all right in the heart of NVA :^)

Then in Tyson's:

Stratford
UVA
Devry
VA Tech
Johns Hopkins (soon I believe)

Stratford is NA, is heavily advertised (but no where near ECPI and ITT) and seems to offer quality programs in culinary, hotel management and business admin.

I would have actually been working at the school of technology at GMU if it weren't for their insistence on talking to my current supervisor, oh well

Hope Southeastern is going well for you, i've heard nothing but good things about them.

Myles

 

Go Tar Heels! Good to see UNC Chapel Hill at the top of the list.

The reason why people choose private schools over public is because, I believe, it is a better education (I'm a bit bias though since I graduated from a private school).

At my community college, many classes (epecially the transfer classes) were nothing more than information crams and testing on how much information you can cram into your head in order to weed you out.

At St. Andrews it was all about learning to think, not about learning to cram information. Classes were so small and the Professor's cared about how you were doing and whether you were grasping the ideas they were teching. They knew your name and you could even have one on one conversations with them all the time. I wouldn't trade that for a public college experience and I've had people come up to me and say they wish they had gone to St Andrews instead of Chapel Hill!

I'm all for private college! Two thumbs up!

 

So, then I suppose if I ever consider hiring you I should get a warning from your supervisor as well?

I would love to work at a school like Southeastern. I've been an academic counselor before and enjoyed it immensly, but getting to DC from Herndon is not very fun in the morning

 

In my experience it all depends on the professor, not so much the school or whether it is public or private. I have attended 2 public B&M schools (Kean University and Brookdale Community College, both in NJ) and 1 private university (Monmouth Univ., also in NJ) and I have had really good and really bad instructors/professors at all 3.