<p>It is a little hard to define and measure what one means by “academically strong”.
Many good students gravitate to selective private schools or to state flagships. The “directional” state schools tend to have lower sticker prices. However, there are many more of them; they get less attention on some of the College Confidential forums; they usually don’t show up too high in the college rankings. So it can be hard to identify which ones are academically strong.</p>
<p>To gauge quality, first consider whether a school has the major(s) you want. Then browse the on-line catalog to see if it has a good selection of courses in those areas. You can Google for data on graduation rates or average class sizes.</p>
<p>Look at the Kiplinger “best value” colleges ([Best</a> Values in Public Colleges, 2011-12](<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/]Best”>Best College Values, 2019 | Kiplinger)). Click-sort on the columns for in-state and out-of-state costs. Truman State is a small university with a high freshmen retention rate, small average class sizes, and relatively low costs for both in-state and out-of-state students.</p>