Students get more bang for the buck

If good news comes in threes, then UCF has just had its third win.

After becoming ranked in basketball and football this year, UCF has earned a different kind of ranking—one that could mean UCF students are getting more bang for their buck.

Kiplinger's Finance Magazine ranked UCF No. 33 in their ‘best values in public colleges' list.

The ranking was released Jan. 5 and selected1 100 public universities in the nation. Last year, UCF ranked 36th on the list and has advanced a total of 12 spots in the past two years.

The list consists of four-year institutions that maintain high graduation rates while keeping costs of attending to a minimum.

To create the list, Kiplinger's takes into account SAT and ACT scores of incoming freshmen, student-faculty ratio and annual financial aid disbursement.

According to Grant Heston from UCF News & Information, the average freshman SAT score in fall 2006 was 1202 and last fall it jumped to 1237. In the 2005-2006 school year $198.4 million was awarded in financial aid and in 2009-2010 $345.8 million was dispersed.

"It's fantastic recognition and it's further recognition of UCF's growing national reputation," Heston said. "It's a credit to the hard work and dedication of staff the staff and faculty members who support an outstanding student experience."

Other Florida schools that made the list were University of Florida which ranked second, New College of Florida was 20th, the University of South Florida was 55th and Florida International University was 97th.

This shows that despite tuition hikes last year, Florida is still one of the cheaper states to go to school.

Florida universities are among the most economical in the country. The average tuition cost for public four-year universities is $7,605 per year. Florida's average is $4,825, $2,780 lower than the national average according to College Board.

UCF's status among the nation's universities that offer the best value is welcome news for students and parents, particularly at a time when the economy is struggling.

"It feels good to be attending a school with great academics at an affordable price" said sophomore engineering major Taylor Meche. "This can do nothing but help our status nationwide."