The University of Florida ranks No. 2 in the nation among public universities and No. 1 in Florida on the Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine list of Best College Values for 2018.

UF has been among Kiplinger’s top-10 best values in public colleges since 2005. Among both public and private institutions, UF ranked No. 32 and was the only Florida university, public or private, to make the top 50.

“This is good news for our students and their families,” UF President Kent Fuchs said. “They can be assured that the University of Florida provides an outstanding education with an affordable cost.”

Kiplinger lists UF’s total annual cost of attendance for in-state students at $17,501, the lowest among the top 10 institutions.

The top-10 public schools are:

1.    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2.    University of Florida

3.    University of Virginia

4.    University of Michigan

5.    University of California, Berkeley

6.    University of California, Los Angeles

7.    University of Washington

8.    University of Texas at Austin

9.    North Carolina State University

10. University of Maryland, College Park

Introduced in 1998, the rankings now combine public schools, private universities and private liberal arts colleges into a single, comprehensive list. Kiplinger also ranks the 100 best values in each category. The analysis is based on objective measurements of academic quality and affordability, not subjective criteria.

“Our rankings, which weigh affordability alongside academic quality, are a great resource for students and their parents when sorting through college choices,” said Mark Solheim, editor of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. “We start with a universe of nearly 1,200 schools and trim the list using measures of academic quality. We then rank the schools based on cost and financial aid data. All 300 schools on our list are worth a look.”

The editors at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance start with data from nearly 1,200 public and private four-year schools, provided by Peterson’s. The list is then narrowed to the top schools based on measures of academic quality, including SAT or ACT scores, admission and retention rates, student-faculty ratios, and four-year graduation rates. The editors then rank the schools using cost and financial aid measures. Academic quality carries more weight than costs.

The full rankings are now available online at kiplinger.com/links/colleges and will appear in print in the February 2018 issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance, on newsstands Jan. 9.

​For additional information or to schedule an interview, contact Kailey McGarvey at Kiplinger, 646-695-7046 or Kailey@rosengrouppr.com