UMD a Kiplinger's Top 10 Best Academic Value

College Park, Md. -- For the fourth consecutive year, the University of Maryland ranked in the top 10 of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine's list of Best Values in Public Colleges for 2011-12. UMD ranked 8th among four-year institutions for providing outstanding education at an affordable price for in-state students and 10th for out-of-state.

"I am pleased that Kiplinger's has once again rated our great University among the nation's elite universities as a best value," said UMD President Wallace Loh. "As president of the University of Maryland, I have placed great emphasis on the goal of providing excellence in education at reasonable, affordable costs. This outstanding ranking speaks so well of our faculty and our students -- it is a ranking in which all of us can take pride. I thank everyone for their contribution to it."

Kiplinger's, which began ranking colleges in 1998, assesses quality and affordability according to a number of measurable standards -- including a college's ability to keep students engaged and on track for graduation, low sticker prices, abundant financial aid and low average debt at graduation. 

"As states cut funding for higher education and tuition continues to climb, the word 'value' is more significant than ever," said Jane Bennett Clark, senior editor at Kiplinger's Personal Finance. "This year's top 100 public schools deliver strong academics at reasonable prices. We applaud these institutions for tightening their belts without compromising quality."

This latest ranking is one of many accolades and honors Maryland has earned this year:

-- Named one of the nation's top schools for entrepreneurially-minded students by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine.

-- Rising from 18th to 17th best among all U.S. national public universities, according to the annual U.S. News & World Report undergraduate rankings.

-- 32 programs in the top 10 and 73 programs in the top 25 of U.S. News & World Report's graduate rankings.

-- Making the list of 50 Best Values in public education by The Princeton Review.

The annual public school rankings appear in Kiplinger's February 2012 issue and online.

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