UC Davis on Princeton Review's "Best Value" List!

The Princeton Review recently listed 150 colleges and universities (evenly split between public and private) that were a great value for the money. Surprise, surprise, UC Davis was on it! They looked at tuition costs and total amount of student debt upon graduation. Last year, UC Davis registration fees come to $11,220 for CA residents and the average debt load was $16,659. Both numbers are way below the national averages cited in the article.

According to the story in USA Today:

The schools, drawn from 650 colleges based on admissions, cost and financial aid data for the 2011-12 school year, are demanding academically. On average, they admitted fewer than half of applicants.

Their total annual cost of attendance, including tuition and fees, room and board and books and supplies, averaged $19,500 for freshmen attending public universities in their home state, and $54,200 for those going to private schools. When freshman grants, including state, federal and institutional aid, are factored into the cost, the final tab drops to $10,600 at public universities and $21,700 at private universities.

Nationally, the cost of attendance in 2011-12 after grants averaged $13,450 for undergraduates at public universities in their state and $25,000 for those at private universities, according to the College Board’s annual survey of colleges.

Fewer than half of students at Best Value Colleges took out loans as undergrads, and median debts reported by public and private Best Value Colleges for their graduating classes of 2011 were lower than national averages. (The national data set did not have medians, only averages.) Moreover, private universities on The Princeton Review’s list posted lower median indebtedness, $20,556, than public universities, $21,373. Private university students among this group also were more likely to graduate in four years.

Nationally, two-thirds of college seniors who graduated in 2011 had student loan debt, with an average debt of $23,065 for students at public and $29,059 for students at private universities, according to an analysis of federal data by the non-profit Institute for College Access and Success, based in California.

The whole list also included UCs Berkeley, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz with similar figures.

If the Princeton Review ever ranked student-friendly apartments, how would you grade Tandem Properties?

 

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