Contact: Joe Farris
Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine is including Mississippi State among the nation's top 100 values in state universities.
The September issue ranks 100 public four-year colleges and universities "where students can graduate with a high-caliber education but without mortgage-sized debt."
Mississippi State is 80th on a list topped by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Schools made the ranking on the basis of quality indicators including graduation rates and computer and library resources, as well as costs and financial aid available.
With more than 1.15 million subscribers, the Washington, D.C.-based publication consistently is among the nation's 100 best-selling magazines. Reviewers call it "a cross between Consumer Reports and Money magazine" and "a good source for fairly detailed practical information."
Based on the magazine's calculations, the total cost for an in-state student to attend MSU is $7,117 a year, while the average annual financial aid package is $4,692.
In rating the universities and colleges, Kiplinger editors say their goal is to identify schools offering "a high-caliber education at the lowest possible cost."
Other Southeastern institutions among the top 100 include the universities of Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama, along with Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, Clemson, Auburn, and Louisiana State.