11 public colleges in Va., Md. called great values

Public colleges and universities in Maryland and Virginia did especially well in a new ranking by Kiplinger of best values in public higher education.

Virginia has six schools in the top 100--including two in the top 10--and Maryland has five in the top 100, with one in the top 10.

The newly released list shows the University of Maryland at College Park jumping from No. 28 in 2008 to No. 8 overall for 2010.

Kiplinger's Personal Finance, which offers financial advice, looked at different measures involving academic excellence and cost to decide on their top values.

As has been true every year since Kiplinger's began making these lists in 1998, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill won the top spot. It was followed by the University of Florida, the University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary (Va.), Binghamton University (part of the State University of New York system), the University of Georgia, the University of Washington, the University of Maryland-College Park, SUNY Geneseo and North Carolina State University.

Kiplinger noted that the University of Maryland at College Park jumped up the list by improving quality--especially graduation rates--while keeping in-state tuition down.

The four other Virginia schools were:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute - #16
James Madison University - #21
University of Mary Washington - #38
George Mason University - #64

Five Maryland schools made the top 100. Along with College Park, they were:
St. Mary's College of Maryland - # 37
Salisbury University - # 59
University of Maryland, Baltimore County- # 93
Towson University - # 97

St. Mary's, which is located in Southern Maryland along the St. Mary's River, ranked second among Maryland public colleges and universities and fourth among all public liberal arts colleges in the country.

New York has 10 public schools on the list; California has eight.

You can learn more about the school of your choice here, with Kiplinger's interactive comparison tool.

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