University of Hawai'i University Relations Media & Publications Honolulu, HI 96822	(808) 956-8856 Telephone (808) 956-3441 Facsimile ur@hawaii.edu E-Mail
For Immediate Release:	August 10, 1998
Contact: Jim Manke, (808) 956-6106

UH ranked a "great value" in new Kiplinger's survey The University of Hawai'i at Manoa is one of the nation's top 100 values in state universities, says the September issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. The article, "Go Public: State Universities to Cheer About," says "a high-caliber college education can be affordable, too." "For every student at a top-dollar [private] university-where expenses run $33,000 a year-there are ten who attend four-year schools where annual expenses, without factoring in financial aid, still don't exceed $10,000," according to Kiplinger's. This year's Kiplinger rankings differ substantially from the method and results last year, when UH Manoa ranked eighth-in the top 15%-of only 50 universities examined (one for each state). For 1998 the magazine editors narrowed a list of 588 public colleges and universities down to 200, based mainly on SAT scores of last fall's freshmen (perceived as a measure of how selective an institution is). Next, the 200 finalists were evaluated for quality-including graduation rates, percentage of freshmen who return for their second year, SAT scores and admission rates, and computer and library resources. The 100 schools with the top quality scores were then ranked on the basis of quality plus financial factors to produce the list of "Top 100 Values in State Universities." UH Manoa is ranked 44th among the top 100 institutions-in the top 8% of all 588 schools in the sample. Costs at public universities are typically lowest for residents of the state where a school is located, the article notes, but even non-residents can find bargains at state colleges and universities. (This is lucky for residents of the District of Columbia and ten states that don't have a single campus in Kiplinger's Top 100, the editors note.) Tables in the September Kiplinger's Personal Finance also show enrollment, cost measures, quality measures and financial aid measures for each of the top 100 public universities. In addition to showing the rank order of the schools, the tables allow readers to make specific comparisons of such information as tuition for residents and non-residents, room and board costs, and total one-year cost of attending for residents and non-residents. -UH-   Fun with Numbers Hawai'i residents can't beat Manoa's price. There is no university in Kiplinger's top 100 whose non-resident total cost for 1998-99 is lower than UH Manoa's $8,123 total cost for residents. Only seven Top-100 universities list an "average debt of grads" lower than UH Manoa's $9,796. A sidebar (p. 78) highlights five lowest-cost schools (for residents) in the top 25 and five in the top 100. All 10 schools are east of the Rocky Mountains; nine are east of the Mississippi. Sidebar (p. 79) highlights eleven lowest-cost top-100 schools for non-residents. All 11 are east of the Rockies; nine are east of the Mississippi. "The rules of residency" sidebar (p. 79) highlights Southern Regional Education Board programs as a way to beat the high cost of non-resident tuition. Hawai'i residents who want to undertake studies not offered at UH Manoa should know that the Western Interstate Consortium for Higher Education (WICHE) offers similar breaks, even though Kiplinger's doesn't mention WICHE. Besides UH, only two other WAC schools (Colorado State and U of New Mexico) made the Kiplinger's Top 100; both of them are leaving the WAC.

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