Various photos of the main / Newark campus of the University of Delaware featuring fall colors and the changing of seasons. November, 2013.

UD a 'best value'

Article by UDaily staff Photo by Evan Krape July 11, 2016

UD is No. 54 in new Money magazine ranking of ‘best value’ universities

The University of Delaware is No. 54 in Money magazine’s new ranking of colleges and universities that provide the best value for the tuition dollar. UD is 25th among the public universities on the list.

Ranking factors include educational quality, affordability and alumni earnings.

UD also is ranked 14th by Money among “the 50 best colleges you can actually get into” and 48th among “the 50 colleges that add the most value,” the latter based on comparative-value grades for graduation rates, earnings and student loan repayment.

The magazine writes that UD places high in the rankings “in part because of its affordability, coming in at under $100,000 for the net price of a degree. (Less than 25 percent of Money’s ranked schools do.) Students also do well when they leave: Alumni report earning an average of $50,700 within five years of graduation, 9 percent higher than schools with a similar mix of academic programs.”

UD also earns notice for being a major research institution and for its role in helping “invent the modern system of collegiate study abroad.”

“This new ranking affirms the University of Delaware’s standing as an institution that is dedicated to providing our students an education with impact at an affordable cost,” said Chris Lucier, vice president for enrollment management. “Our alumni have found that the UD diploma opens doors as they make their way in graduate school or the world of work.”

Overall, Princeton University was ranked No. 1 by the magazine, followed by the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Harvard University, Rice University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Brigham Young University.

In the public university rankings, UD is bracketed by Purdue University at No. 24 and Michigan State University at No. 26.

Earlier this year, UD was included in the 2016 edition of the Princeton Review book Colleges That Pay You Back: The 200 Schools That Give You the Best Bang for Your Tuition Buck, and the February issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine listed UD among the 100 best values in public colleges.