EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon State University is the lone Oregon institution to make the annual Fiske Guide to the best buys of U.S. colleges and universities this year.
OSU keeps climbing up in the guide, while former regular, the University of Oregon, has been left off again, The Eugene Register-Guard reported Sunday.
Until 2005, the UO made the 40-school best-buy list annually for eight years in a row — perpetually honored as a high-value university among the 2,200 four-year institutions in the nation.
The best-buy calculation is based on the quality of academics in relation to the cost of attendance. Edward Fiske, a former education editor at The New York Times, is the guide’s author.
This year, the UO tuition probably ticked up just enough that it was bested by other schools in the calculation, Fiske said.
From 2001 to fall 2012, UO tuition and fees increased 129 percent — landing at $9,309 a year, according to Oregon University System figures.
The UO is still listed, though precariously, on the top 100 Best Values in Public Colleges by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. It’s 97 on the list, down from 89 the previous year.
OSU, meanwhile, is on the ascent. It’s gets an “inexpensive” price rating and a “solid” academic rating from Fiske.
A typo in the 2013 Fiske Guide left off one of the starlike symbols that OSU is entitled to; it has two in the book, but it should have three — placing it in the top 10 percent of colleges and universities nationally, Fiske said.
