Money Magazine: Auburn ranked 'best college for the money' in Alabama

Samford Hall on campus at Auburn University (Photo: Jerry Slaughter)

From the country’s best party schools, to the most prestigious academic institutions, college rankings have long played a role in high school students’ college decision-making process.

But as college tuition has skyrocketed, students have started to pay more attention to how much bang their getting for their buck.

Money Magazine took that into account with their newly-released college ranking system that distinguishes itself from other rankings by focusing on a pair of questions that are currently weighing heavily on the minds of students and parents, according to Kevin Carey of CNBC.

“First, how much money will I actually have to pay — and, probably, borrow — to earn a diploma?” Cary said. “Second, how much money will my diploma be worth in the job market when the time comes to pay my loans back?”

Money’s rankings were calculated by evaluating colleges in three categories: quality, affordability and outcomes.

Graduation rates, student/faculty ratios, SAT scores and other traditional variables are used to help Money calculate its “quality” category.

Cary explains the “more sophisticated” approach Money takes to calculating each college’s affordability:

Money starts with a college’s “net price” — tuition and room and board minus discounts and institutional scholarships — and then multiplies it by the average number of years students at each college take to graduate. The rankings also factor in levels of student borrowing and federally financed parent debt. Finally, Money includes two measures of student loan default rates that account for the percentage of students who borrow and the demographics of the student body.

In keeping with its name, Money Magazine takes the approach of calculating “outcomes” almost entirely based on how much students earn once they graduate.

Cary explains, again:

First, Money rates each college based on the median earnings of graduates within five years of starting their career and again after more than 10 years. Then it calculates separate scores that adjust for each college’s student demographics and mix of academic majors. A college that graduates an unusually large number of public-school teachers, for example, would see its earnings adjusted upward, so it would not be penalized for focusing on public service. A college with many science and engineering majors, who are typically higher paid, would have its earnings adjusted down.

So what Alabama colleges ranked the based in Money’s system? Four Alabama institutions made the top 500, with Auburn University leading the pack, ranking 183rd nationally, followed by Samford University (269), University of Alabama in Hunstville (285), and the University of Alabama (409).

Here are some of the details Money provides for each college:

Auburn University
LOCATION: Auburn , AL
VALUE GRADE/RANKING SCORE: B+/3.17
ENROLLMENT: 20,175
NET PRICE OF DEGREE: $100,485
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 77%
AVERAGE H.S. GPA: 3.78
AVG. ANNUAL SALARY WITHIN 5 YRS: $45,500
WEBSITE: auburn.edu

Samford University
LOCATION: Birmingham, AL
VALUE GRADE/RANKING SCORE: B/3.03
ENROLLMENT: 2,965
NET PRICE OF DEGREE: $139,851
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 76%
AVERAGE H.S. GPA: 3.67
AVG. ANNUAL SALARY WITHIN 5 YRS: $40,900
WEBSITE: samford.edu

University of Alabama-Huntsville
LOCATION: Huntsville, AL
VALUE GRADE/RANKING SCORE: B/3.01
ENROLLMENT: 5,882
NET PRICE OF DEGREE: $108,883
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 78%
AVERAGE H.S. GPA: 3.62
AVG. ANNUAL SALARY WITHIN 5 YRS: $49,600
WEBSITE: uah.edu

University of Alabama
LOCATION: Tuscaloosa, AL
VALUE GRADE/RANKING SCORE: B-/2.88
ENROLLMENT: 28,026
NET PRICE OF DEGREE: $113,178
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 53%
AVERAGE H.S. GPA: 3.57
AVG. ANNUAL SALARY WITHIN 5 YRS: $41,500
WEBSITE: ua.edu/