Georgia Southern University Named One of Kiplinger’s Top 100 Best Values in Public Colleges

Georgia Southern University has for the first time been named one of the Top 100 Best Values by Kiplinger, a noted personal finance and business forecasting company.

Georgia Southern is one of only three Georgia universities to be recognized in the annual list that helps parents of prospective students identify outstanding universities that not only provide a good education for their sons or daughters, but offer an outstanding investment. The other two Georgia institutions named to the list include the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia.

“We are very pleased to be recognized as one of the best values in the country,” said Dr. Teresa Thompson, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management at Georgia Southern University. “While Georgia Southern University has continued to grow, we have done so in a way that allows us to attract outstanding students from across the country and around the world. Parents are recognizing the value of a Georgia Southern education and students are applying at record numbers.”

Kiplinger bases its college rankings on a combination of outstanding academic quality and affordable tuition. The publication examines nationwide data from more than 500 public four-year colleges and universities provided to Peterson's/Nelnet. The list is then narrowed to about 120 schools based on several measures of academic quality, including the percentage of the 2008-09 freshman class scoring 600 or higher on the verbal and math components of the SAT (or scoring 24 or higher on the ACT), admissions rates, freshmen retention rates, student-faculty ratios and four- and six-year graduation rates.

This year, Georgia Southern University announced enrollment of 17,764 students, freshman retention of 81 percent and an average freshman SAT score of 1,111. Each was an all-time high for the growing University.

Kiplinger also ranks each school based on cost and financial aid. The rankings look at total cost for in-state students (tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, and estimated expenses for books) along with several other factors.

“Georgia Southern University has undergone a period of incredible growth, not only in size, but in quality,” said Thompson. “We are proud of our accomplishments and the work of our students, faculty and staff.”

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