UNCA continued to maintain a reputation as an outstanding public college by garnering another plum: It was ranked 30th among 255 public colleges evaluated by Consumers Digest in the May/June issue. The magazine ranked colleges according to their academic value per dollar, using a value-index formula involving students’ academic excellence, quality of education and cost.
Four North Carolina colleges made the top-50 list: UNCA, Appalachian State University, UNC-Wilmington and UNC-Greensboro.
Other recent UNCA accolades have come from U.S. News & World Report, which last fall ranked the school as the fifth best public liberal-arts school in the country; and the Princeton Review, which in April placed UNCA third in the nation among its Top 10 Best Value Public Colleges.
For the record, the top five best values in public colleges and universities according to Consumers Digest‘s rankings were (1) Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, Texas, (2) State University of New York-Stony Brook, (3) City University of New York, (4) Indiana University of Pennsylvania, (5) Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania.
— Nelda Holder, news and opinion editor
