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Mar. 28, 2006

NC State Ranked Second in National ‘Best Value’ List

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

North Carolina State University is second on The Princeton Review’s list of best values among the nation’s public colleges and universities. The rankings were released March 28.

NC State also typically does well in the best value rankings published by U.S. News & World Report, in which the university was ranked fifth nationally this year.

“Being consistently ranked among the nation’s best values is validation for the hard work of faculty and staff who take seriously our commitment to being one of the country’s top landgrant
universities,” NC State Chancellor James L. Oblinger said. “Recognition for what we do is great, but let’s talk about what the rankings mean in real terms of preparing students for success. Our students get an affordable education and graduate with a diploma that means something in the labor market. That’s the real definition of value.”

Oblinger cited undergraduate and graduate research opportunities, use of technology to support the learning experience (The Princeton Review also named NC State one of the nation’s 25 “most connected” campuses earlier this year), and access to world-class faculty among the
many attributes that provide “value-added” for students.

The Princeton Review’s best-value ranking takes four factors into consideration: academics, “tuition GPA” (the sticker price minus average amount students receive in gift-aid scholarships and grants), financial aid (how well colleges meet students’ financial need), and student borrowing. The list was compiled using data obtained from administrators at 646 colleges and surveys of students attending them.

“We considered over 30 factors to rate the colleges in four categories. We recommend the 150 schools in this book as America's best college education deals for 2006,” said Robert Franek, vice president for publishing at The Princeton Review.

The Princeton Review is an education services company. Its guidebook, America’s Best Value Colleges, ranks the institutions and includes three-page profiles of the 150 colleges on the best value lists.

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