Ohio University Named One of 100 Best College Buys Nationwide

4/27/99

ATHENS, Ohio -- For the third consecutive year, Ohio University has been included in the upcoming America's 100 Best College Buys directory, which recognizes public and private institutions that provide superior cost-efficient education. Ohio University was the only public institution in Ohio included in the new directory.

"Ohio University serves as an excellent example of how to run any college or university in the country, public or private," said Lewis T. Lindsey, Jr., president of Institutional Research & Evaluation which compiled the directory. Lindsey's firm maintains files on 1,537 accredited four-year colleges and universities, 51 of which are in Ohio.

"We try very hard to be a 'best buy' and Ohio University has been recognized previously by "Money" magazine as a 'best buy,'" Ohio University President Robert Glidden said.

Lindsey also praised the Ohio University administration and faculty for establishing high expectations for first-year students whose high school grade point averages and entrance scores were higher than the national average.

To be considered in the directory, an accredited four-year institution had to:

• Offer full residential facilities, including halls and dining services.
• Offer opportunities for need-, academic- and athletic-based scholarships.
• Have an entering first-year class in the fall of 1997 with grade point and SAT/ACT scores equal to or above the national average.
• Have had an out-of-state cost of attendance in 1998-99 that was either below the national average or not more than 10 percent above it.

Current data show first-year students at Ohio University had a 3.42 cumulative grade point average, six-tenths higher than the national average. Their collective average 1132 SAT score outpaced the 1065 national average. Their 24.3 ACT score exceeded the national average of 21.

Ohio University's average out-of-state tuition was $14,607. The national average is $15,164.

Lindsey praised Ohio University's scholarship program, which awarded students grants totaling more than $20 million and scholarships totaling more than $7.25 million. When loans and employment opportunities are added to those figures, total student aid in 1997-98 exceeded $108 million.

"A college or university does not have to be expensive to be good," Lindsey said. "Prospective college students and their parents should not automatically think that to get a quality education they must pay a high cost. Ohio University has a very consistent history of providing students a superior education at the lowest possible cost."

In the 1998-99 school year, students attending institutions listed in the Best College Buys directory saved an average of $2,399 over the national average cost of one year of college, according to data provided by Institutional Research & Evaluation.