EUGENE, Ore. -- (Jan. 3, 2012) -- The University of Oregon has been named one of the 100 best values in public colleges by Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine. The UO is No. 97 on the 2012 list, after ranking No. 89 a year ago.

Kiplinger's ranks public, four-year institutions each year to produce its list of those that combine outstanding education with economic value.

The UO is on this year’s list because of “its high four-year graduation rate, low average student debt at graduation, abundant financial aid, a low sticker price and overall great value,” the magazine said.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill again took the top spot in this year’s ranking – as it has each year since the magazine first ranked colleges for value in 1998.

“As states cut funding for higher education and tuition continues to climb, the word ‘value’ becomes more significant than ever,” said Jane Bennett Clark, senior editor at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. “This year’s top 100 public schools deliver strong academics at reasonable prices. We applaud these institutions for tightening their belts without compromising quality.”

The Kiplinger’s survey evaluates more than 500 public institutions based on quality measures including admission rate, test scores of incoming freshmen, four- and six-year graduation rates, and cost information about tuition, fees, room and board, and financial aid for in-state and out-of-state students.

The annual public school rankings appear in Kiplinger’s February 2012 issue, which is on newsstands today.

About the University of Oregon

The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.

MEDIA CONTACT: Joe Mosley, UO media relations, 541-346-3606, jmosley@uoregon.edu