UI named top 10 'best buy'

The UI made the grade - a Top 10 ranking - in this year's "Money Guide:
Your Best College Buys Now," a special edition published by Money magazine.

Of 100 four-year undergraduate schools listed in the guide, which appeared
on newsstands Sept. 5, the university was ranked the ninth best
"higher-education value."

In a news release issued last week by the magazine, the UI was described as
"a huge school boasting an enormous range of academic and social
opportunities at a bargain price."

The magazine based its ranking on 16 criteria, including entrance-exam
results, faculty resources and deployment, library resources, instructional
and student services budgets, four- as well as five- or six-year graduation
rates, and default ratios on graduates' student loans. These data were then
compared with each school's tuition and fees to arrive at a value rating.

Excluded from the rankings were schools dedicated primarily to education of
clergy, as well ones that require an affirmation of faith from students;
that aspire to graduate students with a particular world theological view;
or that require religious study of any nature as a significant academic
requirement.