Standout Education, Price places SUU Among Nation’s Best Values

Published: February 06, 2013 | Read Time: 3 minutes

When it comes to college, inexpensive doesn't necessarily mean easy and a high price tag isn’t always a promise for quality. It is, instead, the convergence of these two critical factors that make the very best stand out from all the rest. To that end, The Princeton Review created its annual collegiate “Best Value” ranking system, to help prospective students and parents sift through the hundreds upon hundreds of colleges and universities across the nation in an effort to identify the right choice.

As the only public or private school in the state of Utah and one of just 11 public schools within the western U.S. to be included among The Princeton Review’s “Best Value Colleges: 2013,” SUU is thrilled to stand out as a truly unique and valuable option for the region’s students—the very best above all the rest.

This elite ranking places Southern Utah University among the nation’s top 75 public schools in the nation who effectively balance academic rigor and affordability to the student’s ultimate benefit. The Princeton Review also identified the top 75 private schools in its Best Value ranking.

In addition to SUU, the 150 total 2013 Best Value schools include the likes of UCLA, Cal Berkeley, Harvard, Michigan, Princeton, Purdue and Stanford, proving the Best Value ranking is not about low cost, but about the quality services delivered for the price a student pays.

Universities included in the 2013 ranking were commended for "all they are doing to keep costs down while maintaining excellent academic programs," according to the editors of The Princeton Review. 

Said SUU Provost Brad Cook, “Our goal is to continue elevating the quality of our academic experience, with an acute sensitivity to value."

Donna Eddleman, vice president of student services at SUU, said “This is more than offering students a small sticker price for tuition. This is about high quality institutions offering a great value education. Being ranked as a ‘Best Value’ is just that: for what students are paying, they’re receiving value—an education of worth and prestige.”

According to The Princeton Review, when SUU students were surveyed about why they love the university, they described the wide variety of academics and the great value in an experiential education that gives them opportunities to practice the things they are learning. Citing specifically the professors, student reports said, “They have a passion for the subjects they teach, but are more concerned about the students and his or her potential.” 

This kind of attention is hard to come by at any school, and yet SUU does so successfully while also maintaining manageable tuition, at less than $6,000 per year for tuition and fees.

According to the USA TODAY, the average in-state tuition and fees at public colleges across the nation have consecutively risen and now exceeds $19,500 a year with room and board. Private university expenses average $54,200 annually.

For University officials, this recognition is proof that SUU is, indeed, headed in the right direction. Said Cook, "Designations like the Princeton Review illustrate the effectiveness of our philosophy as the state's personalized, value-added institution of choice."

Southern Utah University has now earned The Princeton Review's best value moniker for the fourth time, having also been recognized in 2007, 2008 and 2012.

The “Best Value Colleges” list and information about the schools are also posted on bestvaluecolleges.usatoday.com. The site features an exclusive database that allows users to view in-depth details about the schools by clicking on an interactive map. Users can explore criteria including cost of attendance and financial aid data, enrollment size, location and The Princeton Review’s analysis of why it chose each school as a “Best Value.”

The Princeton Review selected its "Best Value Colleges" schools based on institutional data and student opinion surveys collected from 650 colleges and universities the Company regard as the nation's academically best undergraduate institutions.

The selection process analyzed more than 30 data points broadly covering academics, cost and financial aid. Cost and financial aid data came from the Company's fall 2012 surveys of school administrators. Data on academics came from its fall 2011 through fall 2012 surveys of school administrators. Data from students attending the schools over these years included their assessments of their professors and their satisfaction with their financial aid awards.

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