What a Deal!

Families still struggling through the economic recession received some good news this month. Both the Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report ranked NC State as one of the best values in higher education.

Each year, Princeton Review staffers spend countless hours poring over survey results from students and faculty at more than 2,500 North American colleges and universities. They found that NC State offers its students the sixth-best value of any public university located in the United States or Canada. U.S. News ranked NC State as the third-best value of any public university in the country.

“I think students recognize that NC State offers the kind of hands-on learning opportunities and relevant experience that will enable them to be valuable contributors to society upon their graduation,” NC State chancellor James Woodward said. “In a time of economic uncertainty and technological evolution, NC State remains uniquely positioned to produce future leaders with the knowledge and the skills to help solve the world’s problems.

“It’s not surprising students would seek out the opportunities available to them at NC State in hopes of reaching their personal, educational and career goals.”

In its profile on NC State, the Review praises the university not only for the academic quality of its student applicants, but their extracurricular activities and altruistic endeavors as well.

No other North Carolina-based institution – public or private – made the Review’s “Top 10” list, featured in the 2010 edition of the Review’s popular guidebook, The Best 371 Colleges.

In addition to being one of the nation’s best values, NC State also received high scores based on admissions selectivity as well as the university’s “green rating,” a measure of the university’s commitment to environmentally related policies, practices and education.

“It’s always nice for NC State to earn this kind of recognition,” Woodward said. “The true measure of a university is its people, and I truly believe that our faculty, students, staff and alumni are among the nation’s best.”

The Princeton Review is a New York City-based education services company known for its annual rankings based on surveys conducted of higher education institutions and of students attending the schools, in addition to its test-prep courses, college and graduate school admission services, books, and education programs. U.S. News, a news magzine published in Washington, D.C., has released its annual rankings of colleges and universities since 1985.