UNC Asheville continues to head to the top of the class as an outstanding educational value nationally. The May/June issue of Consumers Digest named UNC Asheville one of the Top 50 Best Values for public colleges and universities. UNC Asheville came in at number 30 out of the top 255 public colleges and universities considered.

Consumers Digest based the ranking on a formula that balanced students’ academic excellence with the quality of education offered to compile a “value-index score” for each institution. This score and the cost of attending each college for the 2005-06 academic year were then applied to a calculation to determine which schools offered the most academic value per dollar. Private and public universities were ranked separately and out-of-state tuition was considered for all public institutions. 

Other North Carolina public colleges and universities named to the Top 50 Best Values include Appalachian State University, UNC Wilmington and UNC Greensboro.

The Consumers Digest ranking is just one of many the University earned this year. Last fall, UNC Asheville was ranked the fifth best public liberal arts university in America by U.S. News & World Report. The University is also just one of 19 public colleges and universities in the United States and Canada to be named a “Best Buy” in the most recent edition of The Fiske Guide to Colleges. And the 2008 edition of the Princeton Review’s “America’s Best Value Colleges,” which was released in April, ranked UNC Asheville third in the nation among the Top 10 Best Value Public Colleges.