<p>To find out which of the nation’s roughly 1,500 four-year colleges offer the most bang for your tuition buck, MONEY screened out those with a below-average graduation rate and then ranked the 665 that remained on 17 factors in three categories: educational quality, affordability, and alumni earnings provided by PayScale.com. Included: a “value added” grade that rated each college in light of the economic and academic profile of its student body and the mix of majors at that school. We then used a statistical technique to turn all the data points into a single score on a five-point scale and rated them accordingly. These schools went to the head of the class.</p>
<p>When did that article come out? The data are rather outdated though. 37% admission rate was a couple years ago.</p>
<p>billcsho: from what I can discern, the article is recent and from 2014. As to the data, they are a bit stale…my guess is from the 2nd prior cycle. I think the current admission rate is a bit lower…around 33% or so.</p>
<p>@blue85 33% was last year. This year is around 30%. The 37% rate is from 2012 I believe.</p>
<p>Lol is it matter that much? The acceptance rate doesn’t change the quality of the school.</p>
<p>No. It does not matter as most of the top schools have dropped their admission rates in the last couple years anyway. I just want to know if this is a recent article or not.</p>
<p>For in-state students from middle/high income families, Michigan is an incredible bargain…arguably the best bang for the buck in the country. For OOS students from upper middle/high income families (excluding students from states with their own elite public universities like California, Illinois, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin), Michigan is a relatively good bargain as well. </p>
<p>When I said “high income”, I do not include the very wealthy, as the very wealthy do not really get negatively impacted by college cost of attendance. I am referring more to families with both parents earning good incomes.</p>
<p>Hopefully, with Michigan’s current drive to improve financial aid for all students, Michigan will soon become a bargain for students from lower income families.</p>
<p>Michigan is a bargain for those from lower income families. It is far and away one of the most generous schools in the nation to low-income IS kids. It’s one of the very few meets full needs schools, something crucial to low income students. </p>
<p>Unless you and I have very different definitions of low income. To me, low income is Pell/near-Pell eligible. </p>
<p>Thanks for adding to my post romanygypsyeyes. I knew Michigan was generous with lower income in-state students, but I did not realize the extent. I was referring more to OOS students though. In this regard, Michigan has room to improve, and I think the current fund raising drive will take aim at rectifying that problem. </p>
<p>It is indeed a very good bargain for low income in state students as they have very generous grant to meet needs. In other words, it is a good bargain for all in state students. It is also a great bargain for some low income out of state students if you at one of the sample financial aid packages on their website.</p>