Virginia Tech again cited among 'best value' public universities
Virginia Tech is again included among the "best value" public universities for 2012, according to The Princeton Review Best Value Colleges for 2012.
The list, which features 150 schools in all, includes 75 public and 75 private colleges and universities. Of the 75 schools chosen in each category, the top 10 are ranked one to 10, and the remaining 65 are listed in alphabetical order and unranked.
The Princeton Review and its partner USA TODAY selected the institutions as its "best value" choices for 2012 based on its surveys of administrators and students at more than 650 public and private colleges and universities. More than 30 data points were considered across three primary areas: academics, cost of attendance, and financial aid. Cost and financial aid data came from fall 2011 surveys of school administrators and academic information came from fall 2010 through fall 2011 surveys of school administrators. The Princeton Review also factored in information from surveys of students attending the schools who shared assessments of their professors and their satisfaction with their financial aid awards.
To earn a place on the list, a school must be academically outstanding. It must also offer value in one of two ways: either by charging a comparatively lower price (including room and board and mandatory fees) or by making a comparatively higher cost of attendance affordable to students it admits who demonstrate financial need.
Virginia Tech continues to increase its affordability for students by increasing instructional funding for student financial aid. More than 60 percent of Virginia Tech students receive some type of financial aid.
The Funds for the Future program, for example, protects certain groups of low-income undergraduates from increases in tuition and fees, and reduces other unmet needs for certain groups of low-income undergraduates.
Presidential Campus Enrichment Awards assists academically talented, low-income high school students from Virginia who demonstrate persistence and a commitment to academic excellence.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
