2011 Fiske Best Buy Colleges Guide

Parents Forum
1

<p>45 Colleges both Public and Private were profiled.</p>

<p>These institutions fall into the inexpensive or moderate price category, have four- or five-star academic ratings, and have an excellent quality of life for students on campus.</p>

<p>21 public colleges from across the country were selected as "Best Buys."
I have a daughter attending Geneseo this Fall and was glad to see them make the list. </p>

<p>The list of Public Colleges include:</p>

<p>University of Aberdeen (Great Britain)
Arizona State University
University of British Columbia (Canada)
Evergreen State College
University of Florida
Georgia Institute of Technology
University of Iowa
Iowa State University
University of Mary Washington
McGill University (Canada)
New College of Florida
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
North Carolina State University
Ohio University
University of Oregon
Oregon State University
Queen’s University (Canada)
University of St. Andrews (Great Britain)
SUNY–Geneseo
University of Toronto (Canada)
University of Washington</p>

2

<p>Can you post the privates as well, Fatherli?</p>

3

<p>The complete list:</p>

<p>Fiske’s 2011 Best Buys: </p>

<p>PUBLIC
University of Aberdeen (Great Britain)
Arizona State University
University of British Columbia (Canada)
Evergreen State College
University of Florida
Georgia Institute of Technology
University of Iowa
Iowa State University
University of Mary Washington
McGill University (Canada)
New College of Florida
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
North Carolina State University
Ohio University
University of Oregon
Oregon State University
Queen’s University (Canada)
University of St. Andrews (Great Britain)
SUNY–Geneseo
University of Toronto (Canada)
University of Washington</p>

<p>PRIVATE
Adelphi University
Alfred University
Baylor University
Brigham Young University
Cooper Union
Cornell College
Deep Springs College
DePaul University
Drexel University
Elon University
Florida Southern College
Hendrix College
Illinois Institute of Technology
Juniata College
Marquette University
Millsaps College
Morehouse College
Olin College of Engineering
Presbyterian College
College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University
Saint Louis University
Spelman College
Trinity University (TX)
Wheaton College (IL</p>

4

<p>Why the noticable absence of the most selective private universities? Was financial aid not taken into account?</p>

5

<p>Some of the releases regarding the listing put out by the schools in question state that the schools are supposed to be “inexpensive or moderately priced”. </p>

<p>[Baylor</a> University || Marketing & Communications || News](<a href=“Baylor Named 'Best Buy' in New Fiske Guide to Colleges | Media and Public Relations | Baylor University”>Baylor Named 'Best Buy' in New Fiske Guide to Colleges | Media and Public Relations | Baylor University)</p>

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<p>Iowa State University–Go Cyclones!</p>

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<p>The Fiske Best Buy list for public schools annoys me because it ranks based on in-state tuition. I don’t think very many people have the luxury of changing their state of residence prior to applying, and for a prospective student making a list this is worthless because they can’t compare a school on the list and one off the list and conclude that one will be cheaper.</p>

8

<p>From Baylor’s website:</p>

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</p>

<p>So, nearly 40 grand is considered “inexpensive or moderately priced?”</p>

<p>This price isn’t much different from many of the more selective colleges. Maybe slightly. I don’t mean to pick on Baylor- it’s just an example.<br>
I do agree that the publics can be much cheaper, but it does depend on the state where you live. I notice there are no California public schools on this list.</p>

9

<p>

Princeton:

I’d consider over $10k a year fairly significant.</p>

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<p>“This price isn’t much different from many of the more selective colleges.”</p>

<p>Georgetown is about $60K, which really ups the ante.</p>

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<p>For most families, HYPS are the best value.</p>

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<p>It’s hard to compare because we don’t know exactly what’s included, but it looks to me like Princeton included $3600 for miscellaneous expenses, and Baylor did not, which brings the difference down a bit.</p>

<p>But, while 10K is a lot of money, times four, if you look at spending 160k vs 200k, it doesn’t seem like that big a difference - at least it wouldn’t be the deciding factor in our family.<br>
Back in the day…(2003!) HYP prices were at Baylor’s level now.</p>

<p>Of course, if you qualify for financial aid, it would all depend on how each school does their calculations.</p>

13

<p>

Oh, that’s ridiculous. :(</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>What do you mean?</p>

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<p>The amount of children who get to go to HYPS, even high achieving ones, is miniscule. And $10,000 cheaper tuition plus a merit scholarship can make for some very nice discounting.
Midwest schools tend to have lower tuition – yay, DePaul, Marquette, Saint Louis U, College of St. Ben’s/St. John’s. All fine Catholic universities that do a great job educating many, many Midwest kids.</p>

16

<p>For “most families” their kids can’t even get INTO HYPS. And for the ones who can, there is a faction who would have to pay full ride. Would you have no guides or lists of schools suited to anyone besides the top 10,000 or so kids in the country, silverturtle?</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>How is this relevant?</p>

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</p>

<p>Yes, but a larger fraction will not have to.</p>

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</p>

<p>Of course not, nor did I suggest this. I was merely qualifying the list as deceptive, most notably with respect to those schools.</p>

18

<p>silverturtle: are you saying that you think that a larger faction of students admitted to HYPS are not full pay than those that are? in other words, more students receive FA than do not? not sure about the accuracy of that statement…</p>

<p>do you have statistics to prove this?</p>

19

<p>

How can something be the best value if you cannot buy it? In that case, it has no value to you at all.</p>

<p>

I don’t find it deceptive at all. In fact, to include the super-expensive, almost impossible to get into, schools on a list billed as schools moderately priced would make the list virtually meaningless.</p>

20

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</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/Provost_-_CDS2008_2009_Harvard_for_Web_Clean.pdf[/url]”>http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/Provost_-_CDS2008_2009_Harvard_for_Web_Clean.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>[Stanford</a> University: Common Data Set 2009-2010](<a href=“http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cds/cds_2009.html]Stanford”>http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cds/cds_2009.html)</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.yale.edu/oir/cds.pdf[/url]”>http://www.yale.edu/oir/cds.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2008.pdf[/url]”>http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2008.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Go to the Financial Aid section for each set. Also, Harvard reports that for 90% of American families, it will be cheaper than the local state university’s in-state costs (disregarding merit-based aid, I presume).</p>