Contact: Kenneth Billings
STARKVILLE, Miss.--In the latest edition of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, Mississippi State continues among the "100 Best Values in Public Colleges."
Ranked 88th, the land-grant institution--soon celebrating its 132nd year--is the only public university in the Magnolia State cited in the national publication's annual survey.
The seven-decade-old monthly annually reviews more than 500 schools. It calculates MSU's total cost for in-state students to be $13,871--or $10,185, after taking financial aid into account.
The complete report is available at www.kiplinger.com/money/collegevalues/.
According to the editors, the assessment places a greater emphasis on academic quality than costs of attendance. Among others, academic measures considered include: freshman ACT scores, admission and freshman retention rates, student-faculty ratios, and four- and six-year graduation rates.
Measures of cost include total and average costs, as well as average percentage of need met by financial aid.