According to Kiplinger’s Best College Values 2018, the University of Portland is the top ranked private university in Oregon for offering the best value for students based on academic quality, cost, and financial aid measures. The University was ranked 54th, rising four spots in the rankings, among all private universities nationwide. The University of Portland has been the top ranked private Oregon university for the past eight years, and has been ranked in the top 100 since Kiplinger’s began releasing its rankings of “Best Value Colleges.”
Kiplinger’s starts with data on nearly 1,200 public and private four-year schools, then narrows the list based on measures of academic quality. The quality criteria include admission rate (the percentage of applicants offered admission) and yield (the percentage of students who enroll out of those admitted), the four-year graduation rate, freshman retention rate, and student-to-faculty ratio. Schools are then ranked on cost and financial aid measures, including the average student debt upon graduation and the median earnings of workers who started at a particular college 10 years earlier and who received federal financial aid. Quality criteria account for 55% of total points, and cost criteria account for 45%.
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance offers advice on managing money and achieving financial security, paying for college, and major purchases like automobiles and homes. The magazine has been published since 1947.
The complete rankings are available online at kiplinger.com/links/college.