UGA Makes Princeton Review's List of Best Value Colleges

By David Bill

The University of Georgia has received recognition in The Princeton Review’s new book, “The Best Value Colleges: The 150 Best-Buy Schools and What It Takes to Get In.” 

The book, published on Jan. 28, includes 150 academic institutions—75 public and 75 private—based on surveys The Princeton Review, an education services company, conducted in 2012-13 of 2,000 undergraduate institutions concerning their academics, cost and financial aid. The publication also analyzed student survey data collected over the last three academic years. Rankings were made only for the top 10 in each category.

In its overview of UGA, The Princeton Review editors highlighted Georgia’s merit-based HOPE Scholarship, which provides high school graduates who have a minimum 3.0 grade point average with a scholarship to cover the cost of tuition and a percentage of student fees and books. The editors also noted that UGA offers the prestigious Foundation Fellowship, which provides an annual stipend of approximately $9,000 for in-state students (in addition to the HOPE Scholarship) and $15,700 for out-of-state students (plus an out-of-state tuition waiver).

Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s senior vice president and publisher, said, “We salute these colleges for their outstanding academics and affordability either via their comparatively low sticker prices or generous financial aid awards to students with need—or both.”

According to The Princeton Review, the average in-state Georgia freshman pays $9,842 in tuition, while those from out of state pay more than $28,000 a year. On-campus room and board costs just under $11,000. Recent graduates left UGA with about $19,600 in cumulative debt, on average.

In December, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance ranked UGA as the No. 10 school on its best values in public colleges list, citing its high four-year graduation rate, low average student debt at graduation, abundant financial aid and overall value.