ASU among America's best colleges

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."

ASU ranked 28th on a list of 100 colleges and universities that give students "the most quality for each tuition dollar spent."

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.

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.

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.

For more information on the ranking, visit the Web site http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/02/best-buys-colleges-opinions-value.html.