ASU among America's best colleges
<p>Arizona State University has been named one of America's Best College Buys by Forbes magazine in its 2009 edition of "America's Best Colleges."</p><separator></separator><p>ASU ranked 28th on a list of 100 colleges and universities that give students "the most quality for each tuition dollar spent."</p><separator></separator><p>The Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a think tank in Washington, D.C., calculated quality scores for 600 schools and divided each by the school's average net tuition rate for 2003-2007.</p><separator></separator><p>Quality scores were based on students' satisfaction with their course instruction (25 percent) and indicators of their post-graduate employment success (25 percent), with almost as much weight given to the four-year debt load for typical student borrowers (20 percent). Other factors were four-year graduation rates and student and faculty success in competitive academic and research awards.</p><separator></separator><p>The only other schools from the western United States that landed in the top 30 were six California schools: University of California at Los Angeles, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Riverside, California Maritime Academy and UC Santa Barbara.</p><separator></separator><p>For more information on the ranking, visit the Web site <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/02/best-buys-colleges-opinions-value.html…; target="_blank">http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/02/best-buys-colleges-opinions-value.html…;