UF ranks No. 7 on Money magazine’s list of Best Colleges for Your Money

July 29, 2014

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Money magazine on Monday released its first-ever college rankings, and the University of Florida came in at No. 7 among public institutions — and No. 1 in Florida — on its list of Best Colleges for Your Money.

Among public and private schools, UF was ranked 28th. Publics with overall ranks higher than UF are:

In Florida, the next highest-ranked school was New College of Florida (134), followed by Florida State University (223), the University of Central Florida (319), the University of North Florida (471), Florida International University (487), the University of South Florida (487) and the University of Miami (536).

“We know students, their families and others are more sensitive than ever to the cost of a college education, so this ranking comes at a good time and affirms that the University of Florida is truly an outstanding value,” UF President Bernie Machen said.

According to Money’s website, the magazine ranked 665 schools on 17 factors in three categories: educational quality, affordability and alumni earnings provided by PayScale.com. It included a “value added” grade that rated each school in light of the economic and academic profile of its student body and the mix of majors at that school. The magazine then used a statistical technique to turn all the data points into a single score on a five-point scale and rated them accordingly.

As the entry for UF on Money’s website states, “The University of Florida is one of the best bargains in higher education. Tuition is just $6,310 a year, and more than 90 percent of undergraduates get state or other grants … Despite the low net cost, students get access to some of the world’s top professors in fields such as biotechnology, gerontology, and astronomy. (UF has produced eight astronauts.)”

The full list of rankings can be found here: www.time.com/money/collection/moneys-best-colleges/.