Washington Monthly ranked the University of Vermont 15^th among 402 colleges and universities in the Northeast on its "Best Bang for the Buck" list in the magazine’s annual College Guide issue, published in September. No other Vermont colleges were in the top 100. 

The magazine describes the list as showing “which schools in the Northeast are the best value for your money based on ‘net’ (not sticker) price, how well they do graduating the students they admit, and whether those students go on to earn at least enough to pay off their loans.”

Schools on the “Best Bang for the Buck” list, grouped into five regions, were chosen from a total pool of 1,540 four-year colleges in the United States.

Criteria used for the Bang-for-the-Buck list include the following: 

• Student loan default rate. This measure uses the average two-year default rate from the 2008-09 through 2010-11 academic years. UVM’s rate was 1.6 percent.
• Graduation rate. This measure uses the average six-year institutional graduation rate for first-time, full-time students from 2010 through 2012. UVM’s six-year rate was 75 percent. 
• Graduation rate performance. This criterion looks at data on student income, academic achievement, admit rate and other factors to predict what a school's graduate rate should be, awarding points if the rate exceeds what would be expected. UVM’s score of 5.3 percent is above what is expected.
• Percent Pell Grant students. This measure uses the percentage of undergraduates receiving Pell Grants in the 2009-10 through 2011-12 academic years as a proxy for a college's effort in serving a socioeconomically diverse population. UVM’s Pell percentage among out-of-state and in-state students is 19.3 percent.
• Net price of attendance for all students. This measure reflects the average price for the 2009-10 through 2011-12 academic years that students receiving any grant aid from the institution, state, and/or federal government should expect to pay for college. UVM’s net price for these students is $13,797.

UVM ranks highly on two other lists for affordability and value

Washington Monthly’s Best Bang-for-the-Buck list coincides with two other recent rankings that highlight UVM’s value and affordability. 

On the College Scorecard, released by the U.S. Department of Education earlier this week, UVM is the only college or university in Vermont with an average cost for in-state students that is below the national average and a graduation rate and average after-graduation earnings that are above the national average.

The university also ranks 59th on the New York Times' College Access Index, a measure of top colleges’ efforts to boost economic diversity at their institutions. UVM is among universities whose scores “indicate the most effort” toward making college accessible to economically disadvantaged students.