UNC ranks 5th on best public universities list | ABC11 Raleigh-Durham

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By ABC11

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

CHAPEL HILL

The U.S. News & World Report’s 2011 “America’s Best College” guide book is available at www.usnews.com.

UC-Berkeley ranked first among public universities, followed by UCLA and Virginia (tied for second), Michigan (fourth) and UNC (fifth).

Among national public and private universities, Carolina ranked 30^th. Other top public instotutions ranked overall between 22^nd (Berkeley) and 29^th (Michigan). Last year, UNC tied for 28^th overall with Tufts and Wake Forest.

Other U.S. News rankings assess affordability, undergraduate business programs, views of high school guidance counselors and innovative programs. Those UNC-Chapel Hill results included the following:

1^st among public universities for the 6^th consecutive year and 14^th overall in “Great Schools, Great Prices,” based on academic quality and net cost of attendance for a student receiving average need-based financial aid in 2009-2010.
4^th among publics for “least debt” and 10^th overall -- up from 16^th and 24^th, respectively. Average student debt: $14,262 for UNC’s class of 2009; 28 percent of graduating seniors borrowed, down from 32 percent the prior year.
A 97 percent average first-year retention rate - the same as last year.
An 87 percent average six-year graduation rate - 2 percentage points better than U.S. News predicted. (UNC’s four-year rate is about 76 percent.)
Only 12 percent of course sections enrolled 50 or more students, the best mark among all five top publics for the third straight year. Thirty-nine percent of UNC’s course sections enrolled fewer than 20 students, down from 44% last year.
Tied for 22^nd (with seven other schools) on an academic reputation rating by high school guidance counselors with a score of 4.4 on a 5.0 scale. UNC ranked second among national public universities in this new ranking with Georgia Tech.
Remained competitive with top public peers in faculty resources, ranking 47^th overall. That’s down from 35^th last year, but on par with a 50^th rankings the previous two years. Among top publics, Berkeley was 33^rd, UCLA 41^st, UVA 37^th and Michigan 70^th. This category, worth 20 percent of the overall ranking, measures undergraduate class size; two academic years (2008-09 and 2009-10) of average total faculty compensation (salary and benefits) based on indexes weighted for regional differences; student-faculty ratio; and percentage of faculty who are full time and earned their field’s highest degree.
Tied for 7^th among the best undergraduate business programs. Kenan-Flagler Business School tied with Texas at Austin and Carnegie Mellon. Kenan-Flagler’s management (third) and marketing (fifth) specialties both ranked highly.
Listed among outstanding undergraduate programs with “A Strong Focus on Student Success.” Carolina was cited for exemplary first-year experience (seminars and other programs bringing small groups of students together with faculty and staff), undergraduate research/creative projects, service-learning and study abroad.