Colorado State Ranked 27th in the Nation for Quality Education and Affordability by Kiplinger’s Magazine

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine has ranked Colorado State University 27th in the nation for quality education and affordability in their annual 100 Best Values in Public Colleges rankings.

Kiplinger’s ranked Colorado State closely with universities such as the University of Texas at Austin, University of Oklahoma and University of Kansas. Colorado State was ranked ahead of universities such as Michigan State University, Iowa State University and Texas A&M.

The top 100 universities on Kiplinger’s list are selected based upon quality alone and then ranked based on a combination of quality and cost measures. The formula places a two-thirds weight on quality and one-third on value (See www.kiplinger.com in the "Top 100 College Values" section of the Web site for the complete rankings and methodology.)

"The steep rise in Colorado State University’s ranking is gratifying recognition of the first-rate educational experience our students receive," said Colorado State President Larry Penley. "We are proud of our highly accomplished faculty, our top-ranked academic programs and our quality students. This ranking affirms that when students choose Colorado State, they choose a dynamic institution committed to excellence."

Other Colorado universities listed in Kiplinger’s top 100 include Colorado School of Mines at 25th and the University of Colorado-Boulder at 43rd.

Last month, U.S. News and World Report ranked Colorado State 55th in the nation among public doctoral universities in its "Best Colleges" edition.

The magazine rankings follow a series of honors for the university and its programs this year. Colorado State was awarded $56 million in federal grants this month from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation to establish two research centers at the university and to partner on a third in Massachusetts. The centers showcase Colorado State as a world-class research institution in the areas of infectious disease, biotechnology, engineering and weather.

Colorado State recently ranked among the nation’s top 5 percent of public and private institutions of higher education receiving federal research and development financial support in engineering and the sciences, according to the National Science Foundation. In addition to ranking among the nation’s top universities receiving overall research funding when compared with other public research universities without medical schools, Colorado State ranked second in the nation in federal research and development support.

The veterinary medicine program is ranked second in the nation by U.S. News and World Report in this year’s ranking of veterinary medicine programs by the magazine. It was the only veterinary medical program in the Western states to be ranked among the top 10. Colorado State’s James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital is home to the world’s largest animal cancer center.

Other honors the university has received recently include the following.

–     The Templeton Foundation lists Colorado State as a top character building institution.

–     In April 2003, the vocational/technical education program ranked in the top 10 graduate programs of its kind in the country by U.S. News and World Report. Colorado State is one of the leading members of the national University Council for Workforce and Human Resource Education.

–     The occupational therapy program also was included in U.S. News’ top 10 graduate programs in this discipline in the latest ranking and was honored as a Program of Excellence by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education in 2001.

–     Kaplan’s 2004 Unofficial, Unbiased Guide to the 328 Most Interesting Colleges lists Colorado State as a top university in the categories of schools that are hot and trendy, schools with the most beautiful campus in an urban setting, schools with the most beautiful campus in a suburban or rural setting and schools where the students enjoy themselves so much they never want to leave.

–     Colorado State ranked near the top in the nation – 11th  – for most Peace Corps volunteers this year, according to the organization.

-30-