To compile the list, Kiplinger’s initially sorts schools on quality measures, such as admissions rate, the test scores of incoming first-year students and four- and six-year graduation rates.  It then adds cost data, including tuition, fees, room-and-board and financial aid, and re-ranks the schools.

“It is this combination of academic quality and affordability … that determines which schools make our list for best value,” the magazine writes.

Read complete ranking on Kiplinger.com.

When creating the list, the magazine considered the affordability of experiencing the natural beauty surrounding each campus. "College kids are notoriously cash-strapped," Outside writes, "but that should be the last thing to stop someone from getting out there—and even from getting out there well-equipped. Gear, lessons, certifications—these things all cost money in the 'real world.' So if administrators can roll those expenses into the cost of tuition instead of charging adventure-seekers extra, so much the better."

Read more about what makes UVM an "Outside University."

“UVM’s national scholarship winners represent the intellectual diversity, the dedication to research and discovery, and the commitment to public service that the university seeks to support,” says Abu Rizvi, dean of the Honors College, which houses the Office of National Fellowships. The Truman Scholarship seeks to identify and support current juniors who have demonstrated significant leadership abilities and plan to pursue a career in public service. The Udall Scholarship acknowledges sophomores and juniors who have been outstanding leaders in areas related to the environment. The Goldwater recognizes sophomores and juniors who have done outstanding work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and who also seek to become researchers in their disciplines. The Boren is a prestigious study-abroad scholarship for critical language acquisition. “Our students have put us in excellent company,” Rizvi continues. “Their accomplishments show that we compete very well against well known and larger universities.” 

The list of universities with at least one winner in each of the four scholarships in the 2011-2012 academic year is dominated by prestigious private and large public institutions:

• Arizona State University
• Dartmouth College
• Princeton University
• University of Maryland-College Park
• University of Oklahoma
• University of Vermont
• University of Virginia

Brent Reader, ’13 was one of 55 students nationwide to receive a Truman Scholarship. A Swanton, Vt. native, Reader joined the Vermont National Guard in 2004, and was trained as a combat medic. He has received numerous military honors, including a Combat Medic Badge. Reader came to UVM in 2010 with a goal of pursuing a social work degree, and eventually a master’s degree, which he plans to use to improve mental and physical health care for soldiers upon their return from war.

Tad Cooke ’14 was one of 70 students nationwide to receive a Udall Scholarship. A Charlotte, Vt. native and a sustainable food and energy systems major, Cooke has worked to fundamentally rethink the way organic material has been used and reused in the way that society produces food and energy. In 2012 Cooke, along with fellow student Erick Crockenberg ’14, received first place in UVM's Clean Energy Fund competition for their proposal to research and then build a carbon-negative, compost heated production and research greenhouse on UVM’s Miller Farm. This would be the first greenhouse of its kind in the country. After graduating from UVM, Cooke intends to create a company that designs self-sustaining food and energy systems which will create healthy foods while producing the energy that can be used to run the system.

Susan Leggett ’13 was the first UVM student to be named a Goldwater Scholar since 2009. A biochemistry major and Honors College student, Leggett has been conducting research on lung fibrosis in the Department of Pathology at the College of Medicine with Dr. Yvonne Janssen-Heininger. She also co-authored a publication in the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. Her strong research background aligns with her interest in medicine; she is also a part of UVM’s highly competitive premedical enhancement program, and she is a regular volunteer at Fletcher Allen Hospital. Susan is originally from Salem, N.H. After she graduates from UVM she plans to pursue an M.D/PhD. Ultimately, she hopes to conduct research in a clinical immunodiagnostic research laboratory and teach at a medical university.

Erin Kerr ’14 was one of 131 students who received a Boren Scholarship, which will fund her study abroad experience in Serbia and Bosnia during the spring of 2013. Kerr’s long-standing intellectual interest in the former Yugoslavia is rooted in the connections she made to the Bosnian community in her hometown of St. Johnsbury, Vt. After coming to UVM, she became engrossed in the study of geopolitics through her coursework in the geography department. In addition to being an Honors College student, she has been working on an independent study with Professor Pablo Bose examining how former-Yugoslav countries have been affected by nationalism and colonialism, as well as how these countries fit into world-system theory. While in Serbia, Kerr plans to continue her research by examining how land distribution along ethnic lines was a factor throughout the Yugoslav Wars as well as the reparation and peace-building processes.

Several other UVM students were recognized in these competitions. Alma Arteaga ’13 and Eliza Kelsten ’13 were Truman Scholarship Finalists, David Bernstein ’13 and Kanita Chaudhry ’13 were Goldwater Scholarship Honorable Mentions, and Hannah Gibson ’14 and Jeremiah Rozman ’14 were Boren Scholarship Finalists.

Since 2005, when the university put a centralized fellowship outreach and support program in place, 96 UVM students have won or been finalists in the country’s most prestigious and competitive competitions, including the Fulbright, Rhodes, Goldwater, Marshall, Udall, Truman, Madison, Gilman and Boren Overseas scholarships.

The university is ranked 32^nd among all doctoral universities in the country. There are 282 doctoral universities in the United States.

The ranking was released in November in the institute's annual Open Doors report, which collects data on international educational exchanges.

“We work very hard to find a large number and wide variety of study abroad opportunities for our students, encourage them to participate, and provide the support that will enable them to succeed,” said Kim Howard, director of the Office of International Education. “Study abroad nurtures foreign language mastery, cultural adeptness and broad-mindedness, and problem-solving, all skills that are increasingly sought after by employers. They are also the qualities we need to continue to nurture in our citizenry if we are to move toward peace in the world.”

UVM offers students 900 different study abroad locations in 80 countries and six continents. Its program includes 188 exchange programs with other universities, two UVM-run semester abroad programs and 25 shorter duration programs led by UVM faculty.

The ranking places the following schools in the top ten: Sydney Union, Australia; Monash, Australia; Yale; Cornell; Oxford Union, England; Cambridge, England; the University of Vermont; Colgate; London School of Economics; and McGill.



The Lawrence Debate Union has been engaged in intercollegiate debating since 1899, but only since 2007 has the program focused on international debating. Since that time, the program has risen through the rankings, from 280, to 135, to 39 and now to seven in the rankings.



Alfred Snider is the Edwin Lawrence Professor of Forensics at the University of Vermont and has directed the program for the past thirty years. 



“Our students have as much if not more to say than any students in the world, and they can say it just as well. We know argument, issues and the techniques of persuasion. The secret has been that the nature of our program, being endowed by a wealthy alumnus who graduated in 1901, provides for stability and a strong training system to make students the best they can be. Of course, the hard work and dedication of the students is all important."



One added feature has been the addition of highly skilled trainers from Europe to work with UVM students. Currently Mary Nugent, formerly director of debating at Cambridge in the UK, is a coach at Vermont. “Students are hard working and ready to learn, and they learn from the competitions they attend through defeat and victory. Our systematic style of training has allowed them to come a long way in a short time,” she said.



UVM has won the Northeast title five times in a row, has been in the semifinals at the U.S. championships twice recently, and has made the late rounds at the world championships. “It isn’t that we have one or two teams that do so well,” explained Snider. “It is the fact that our third, fourth and fifth teams also do well. If we have three teams at the world championships versus 400 other teams, and all three are in the top fifty, it is very impressive.”



The remainder of the top thirty schools provides some idea of the lofty company Vermont is keeping. Those schools include Trinity College Dublin (ranked 13), Harvard (22) and Stanford (28). Read the full rankings online.

The rankings draw from the results of 33 high-profile tournaments around the world to show the comparative strength of debating societies against each other. The totals are calculated by adding the results of all the teams a college or university society fielded in the tournaments, including the largest event of the year, the World Universities Debating Championships.

The distinction is awarded to schools with a strong institutional commitment to service, who develop campus-community partnerships that produce measurable impacts, and who engage students in meaningful service that leads to a lifelong path of civic engagement.
    
UVM has been on the honor roll every year since the award's inception in 2006.

The Advocate recently reported that Campus Pride, a national educational organization that works to create safer, more inclusive colleges and universities for LGBT students and others, named the University of Vermont in its first top-ten list of campuses that have demonstrated their commitment to supporting the transgender community.

According to the announcement on Advocate.com, transgender people within higher education continue to be a largely invisible community, with only about ten percent of institutions having trans-inclusive nondiscrimination statements. Moreover, research shows that trans people face higher rates of harassment compared to lesbian, gay and bisexual people and are three times more likely to fear for their physical safety.

Strong leadership from a number of progressive institutions over the past decade, however, is beginning to change that pervasive climate, particularly at UVM where “one would be hard pressed to find a more trans aware campus,” the Campus Pride report says. Among the efforts that earned the university’s ranking:

• Adding “gender identity/expression” to its nondiscrimination policy seven years ago and conducting “Trans 101” training sessions

• Presenting an annual, student-run "Translating Identity Conference" that will mark its tenth anniversary this fall

• Developing management system software that enables students to use a name other than their legal first name on campus records – and offering the software solution for free to other institutions with compatible management systems

“This honor is a real testament to a community ethic that’s part of Vermont and the university,” says Dot Brauer, director of UVM’s LGBTQA Center. “It’s a core value. Once people here understand how they can improve the experience of others they get excited to make it happen. It doesn’t just come from my office. People are willing to sit down at the table and put in the effort and I think that distinguishes this from other places. I have yet to run into a situation where people are unwilling to make a change because they don’t want to be inclusive. I am very proud of UVM.”

Read the full story on Advocate.com.

The national victory came on the heels of winning the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Championship, a title the Catamounts captured for the second time in two years. Reichelt, director of skiing and head alpine coach, credits a depth of talent on the team for its successful season, including those who qualified for the NCAA championships but, because of the limit of twelve athletes per team, did not make the trip to Bozeman, Mont.

"Everyone skied to their potential and strength," Reichelt says of the team's performance at nationals, adding that the Catamounts also performed exceedingly well in events that historically have not been as strong. This year's win is the sixth in the program's history and the first since 1994.

Leading the Cats to victory were two women who captured the titles in their individual events, one alpine, one nordic. Sophomore Kate Ryley, from Toronto, won the women's slalom with a two-run total time of 1:35.17 (17-tenths of a second faster than teammate Kristina Riis-Johannessen.) And senior Amy Glen, from Anchorage, was winner of the women's 15K.

Ryley's win came under trying circumstances. "Kate shattered her hand earlier this year," Reichelt says. "She had three operations and was unable to train slalom for about two months." On top of that season setback, Ryley, who was named women's collegiate alpine skier of the year by Ski Racing Magazine in 2011, also heard some very difficult news the morning of the slalom at nationals: close friend and former teammate from Canada Nik Zoricic had died in a skiercross competition accident in Switzerland. Despite these challenging conditions, Ryley turned in two runs down the course that earned her a national title her sophomore year. Read more on the NCAA website in the article "Ryley turns grief into triumph."

"I couldn't believe it," Ryley says of her win. "I knew I had a lot of time to make up on the second run, and I knew the course was going to get rough. I had to go for it but ski smart at the same time." She is the first Catamount to win an individual title in the slalom since Gibson LaFountaine won back-to-back championships in 1993 and 1994. Ryley, a business major with a concentration of entrepreneurship and marketing, is the third UVM skier to win a slalom title at the NCAAs on the women's side.

Glen's win ended with a thrilling photo finish when she protected her lead by less than two inches from rapidly advancing Dartmouth skier Sophie Caldwell. (Advance to 54:56 in this video to see the dramatic end).

The time between the photo finish and the delivery of the results was tense for anyone watching. But the athlete, modest about her successes both in the snow and in the classroom, says she was content no matter the results. "I knew that whether Sophie or I had gotten it, I’d given it my best effort, which was my real goal. Whether I was second or first wasn’t going to change how I felt about my race."

Glen heads into the last half of her final semester at UVM a national champion in skiing with a 3.96 GPA as a biology major and animal science minor. "UVM was a place where I was excited about both the ski team and the academics they had to offer," she says of her decision to enroll four years ago. As for what will come next, "there's almost surely more school" on the agenda down the road. But in the meantime her plan is to "stay in the East and give skiing a shot full-time this next year."

Read the write-up of the NCAA skiing championships on the Athletics website.

There are currently 37 UVM undergraduate alumni serving in 28 locations overseas -- from Azerbaijan to Ecuador to Fiji to Mongolia. They work in areas including agriculture, education, environment, health, community economic development and youth development. Since the agency was founded in 1961, a total of 819 alumni have served in the Peace Corps.

“Every year, graduates of colleges and universities across the United States are making a difference in communities overseas through Peace Corps service,” said Peace Corps Acting Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet. “As a result of the top-notch education they receive, these graduates are well prepared for the challenge of international service. They become leaders in their host communities and carry the spirit of service and leadership back with them when they return home.”

“This ranking confirms what we know about our students and alumni: they’re highly dedicated to making the world a better place,” said Tom Sullivan, UVM president. “We’re proud of their volunteerism and to be again among the agency’s top-producing universities this year.”

The State of Vermont, meanwhile, is the No. 2 Peace Corps volunteer-producing state in the nation on a per-capita basis, with 7.2 of every 100,000 residents currently serving in the Peace Corps.

Americans with backgrounds in agriculture, environment, teaching English as a second language, and other technical or language skills related to Peace Corps assignment areas are encouraged to apply for service one year in advance of their target departure date. The next application deadline is Feb. 28. University of Vermont students or those in the Burlington area interested in learning more should contact Peace Corps recruiter Kelly Dolan at peace.corps@uvm.edu or (802) 656-8269.

The Peace Corps ranks colleges annually according to the size of the student body. Small schools have less than 5,000 undergraduates, medium-sized schools have between 5,000 and 15,000 undergraduates and large schools have more than 15,000 undergraduates. Rankings are calculated based on fiscal year 2012 data as of September 30, 2012 as self-reported by Peace Corps volunteers.

View the entire top 25 rankings for each school size category, as well as all-time and graduate school rankings, in this PDF from the Peace Corps website.

The award was announced Oct. 29 at the National College Media Convention in Orlando, and Cynic editor-in-chief Natalie DiBlasio and managing editor Jeff Ayers accepted the award on behalf of the entire staff. Judges select winners based on newspaper coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership on the opinion page, evidence of in-depth reporting, design, photography, art and graphics, according to the website of Associated Collegiate Press, which co-sponsors the award with the Newspaper Association of America Foundation.

Pacemakers are selected by the staff of a professional newspaper or news organization, ACP officials said.

"The University of Vermont came alive for Carly Lehrer, a visiting high school senior, during a lecture last month on environmental science. It was 8 a.m., and Lehrer was half asleep, but the room buzzed with energy and interest. That told her, in a way no college guide had, that Vermont was a school she would love to attend."

"A sensation of spectacular spaciousness greets you as you stand at the edge of Lake Champlain, your vision of life at that moment dominated by the Green Mountains on one horizon and the Adirondacks on the other. But if you meander up College Street, cross over a bustling Church Street with its shops and restaurants, stroll past a series of tidy homes, and navigate the modest hill, you find yourself in a cozy pastoral setting that envelops you in an intimate ambiance that cannot be described, only experienced.
You have arrived at the University of Vermont."