Spring Break
A&M ranks third in U.S. News
By: Stephanie McMillen
Issue date: 8/28/07 Section: News
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Jay Henshaw has a daughter who is a freshman ag leadership and development major at A&M.
"The cost of tuition at A&M is very tolerable," Henshaw said.
Henshaw said paying for his daughter's education is a big investment, but that he hopes it will pay off in the end.
"I think if you have one kid in school, paying tuition isn't so bad," Henshaw said. "Once you start adding in the cost of living, books and driving expenses, it gets a little difficult, but it is still manageable."
To sort colleges and universities into the appropriate categories, the 2008 edition of "America's Best Colleges" used a version of the Carnegie Classification from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
The Carnegie Classifications have been the basis of the Best Colleges ranking categories since the first rankings in 1983 and are used in higher education research.
To conduct the study, rankings were based on three variables: the ratio of quality to price, the percent of undergraduates receiving need-based scholarships or grants and the percent of a school's total costs covered by the average need-based scholarship or grants to undergraduates.
A&M ranked 29th nationally among all universities in the "First-Year Experience" category in the magazine's "Programs to Look For" section. The study analyzed academic programs that are linked to student success and said orientation can only go so far in making freshmen feel connected.
In a press release, Interim Texas A&M President, Eddie J. Davis said, "It is gratifying for the University to be recognized for its efforts to provide high-quality education at a reasonable cost and to be cited for our efforts to facilitate the best possible transition to college life for our freshmen."
Senior biology major Bryan Stephens receives the Texas Tomorrow Fund each semester and said he has never really felt the pain of paying tuition and fees.
"The Texas Tomorrow Fund definitely helps, but paying for books and the cost of living is still hard sometimes," Stephens said. "I couldn't make it through college without help from my parents."
A&M ranked 17th for the Best Undergraduate Engineering Program and 33rd for the Best Business Program.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ranked first in the "Great Schools, Great Prices" category, followed by the University of Virginia.
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