Posts published on January 9, 2012

Top 10 Higher Education State Policy Issues For 2012

Top 10 Higher Education State Policy Issues for 2012


Presented here are the top 10 issues most likely to affect public higher education across the 50 states in 2012, in the view of the state policy staff at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). This briefing is informed by an environmental scan of the economic, political and policy landscape surrounding public higher education, as well as a review of recent state policy activities and trends. Some issues are perennial in nature, while others reflect attention to near-term circumstances.

100 Public Colleges With An Affordable Price

Best Values in Public Colleges, 2012: The top-100 public colleges and universities on our list deliver a quality education at an affordable price.
Given these hard times in higher ed, the word value takes on special resonance. We’ve retooled our rankings to give more weight to criteria we consider crucial to academic value, including the percentage of students who return for sophomore year and the four-year graduation rate. Each category measures a college’s ability to keep students engaged and on track for graduation. On the cost side, we continue to reward colleges with low sticker prices and abundant financial aid. But now, as student debt grows worrisome, we give bonus points to colleges that keep borrowing low. Where does our new methodology take us? Back to where we started, with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This stellar school tops our rankings for best values in public colleges and universities for the 11th consecutive time — and this year it takes top honors for out-of-state value as well. From the fat years of the late 1990s through the post-2008 recession, UNC-Chapel Hill has been a leader for academic excellence, low cost and generous financial aid — exactly the criteria by which we define value.