In its annual ratings, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine has again ranked UVM among the top 100 best value public colleges in the country. 

To compile its best value list, Kiplinger’s initially sorts schools on quality measures. It then adds cost data, including tuition, fees, room-and-board and financial aid, and re-ranks the schools.

“We rank our top 100 public colleges and universities based on our definition of value: a quality education at an affordable price,” the magazine writes. “Among the factors we consider: high four-year graduation rates, low student-faculty ratios, reasonable price tags and generous need-based aid for students who qualify. For the first time, we only give schools credit for four-year graduation rates because making it to graduation day on time keeps costs down.”

UVM was ranked 11th among all publics on the Kiplinger’s list for its four-year graduation rate of 65 percent.

Overall, UVM was  ranked 85th for in-state and 95th for out-of-state students, respectively. For its best value rankings of public and private colleges, the magazine draws from a field of nearly 1,200 higher education institutions in the U.S.     

UVM’s high-value ranking comes as no surprise, said Stacey Kostell, UVM’s vice president for enrollment management. “Our emphasis year in and year out is on improving academic quality,” she said. “At the same time, we work hard to keep tuition affordable and to offer generous financial aid.”

UVM has also fared well in other recent lists. Washington Monthly ranked it 15th among 402 colleges and universities in the Northeast on its "Best Bang for the Buck" list in the magazine’s annual College Guide issue. In a recent list from Forbes magazine of “Ten Top Colleges to Watch,” UVM was ranked second among four schools in the top 200 that have consistently risen up the list since the rankings began in 2009. And U.S. News & World Report ranked the university 37th among more than 170 public universities rated by the magazine in its 2016 Best Colleges guide.