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Talk of the bay

Florida schools rank among best public college values

By HELEN HUNTLEY
Published January 16, 2006

Here's another reason to teach the little ones to say "Go Gators" or "Go 'Noles": They could get a great deal on a college education by staying in the state.

Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine ranks the University of Florida as the second best public college value in the United States, just behind the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Four other Florida colleges also made the magazine's top 50: New College of Florida ranked fifth, Florida State University 21st, University of Central Florida 40th, and Florida International University 49th. That puts them in the top 10 percent of the 500 colleges considered. The University of South Florida didn't make the top 100.

While Florida's low tuition rates had a lot to do with the rankings, the magazine said academic quality accounted for two-thirds of a college's score. Kiplinger's looked at freshman SAT scores, admission rates, freshman retention, graduation rates and student-faculty ratios.

Typical cost of attendance for an in-state student is between $10,000 and $12,000 at Florida's public universities. Average debt at graduation is $13,744 at UF and $16,647 at FSU.

[Last modified January 13, 2006, 17:53:02]