UMW Named Forbes Best Buy

For the fourth consecutive year, Forbes.com online news magazine has recognized the University of Mary Washington as one of the nation’s top universities.

In the annual list of “America’s Best Colleges,” UMW ranked 55th out of 100 institutions that Forbes deems “The Top 100 Best Buy Colleges.” Overall, UMW is ranked 291 out of 650 undergraduate institutions that the magazine considers the nation’s best.  

The list is compiled in conjunction with the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP), which rates the undergraduate institutions based on the quality of the education provided and how much their students achieve. The CCAP ranks only the top 15 percent of the nation’s more than 4,000 colleges and universities.

“When you are making a major purchase, shopping for bargains can pay tremendous dividends,” according to the “Forbes Top 100 Best Buy Colleges” special report. “It’s true when you are buying a house or a car – and it’s especially true when you’re considering a college education, which can cost more than a quarter of a million dollars and profoundly affect the rest of your life.”

According to Forbes.com, the list is based on the following five categories: post graduate success, which evaluates alumni pay and prominence; student satisfaction, which includes professor evaluations and first-year retention rates; debt, which penalizes schools for high student debt loads and default rates; four year graduation rate; and competitive awards, which rewards schools whose students win prestigious scholarships. 

In recent years, the University of Mary Washington has seen its academic reputation garner national recognition in other selective guidebooks, including the 2012 Fiske Guide to Colleges and the Princeton Review’s 2012 edition of “The Best 376 Colleges.” The university also has been recognized in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Peterson’s Competitive Colleges and Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges.