IU ranks among ‘Best Values in Public Colleges’

This year IU was listed 30th overall in the Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine’s ranking for the “100 Best Values in Public Colleges” for in-state students.

This is the second year in a row that IU has placed in the top 30, and this year the University ranked third among all of the Big Ten schools.

The rankings appear in Kiplinger’s February issue, which is now available in newsstands.

The Kiplinger yearly rankings are based on factors such as incoming students’ test scores, student-faculty ratio, tuition and financial aid and graduation and retention rates.

The rankings include both large research universities and smaller, more specialized schools. The original list included about 500 schools.

“Indiana’s quality measures have consistently gone up,” said Jane Bennett Clark, senior associate editor of Kiplinger, in a press release. “That is really the most important factor in the rankings. Quality really has to be strong to keep you up in the Top 30.”

Since President Michael McRobbie’s presidential inauguration in July 2007, he has had an overall goal of trying to position IU as an institution with high value, IU Spokesman Larry MacIntyre said.

McRobbie has been working to increase the amount of grant money available as well as trying to hold down costs.

“That ranking in many ways measures the things that President McRobbie has been striving for since he became president,” MacIntyre said. “It’s a very good fit as a way of measuring the things that President McRobbie is trying to do.”

Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Neil Theobald said IU received the high ranking because IU provides good academic programs at a very competitive tuition rate.

“I think the more that people know about how well the campus combines affordability and excellence, the better for IU and the state,” Theobald said.