The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire was once again included in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine as one of the 100 best values in public colleges, ranking 64 for in-state students and 62 for out-of-state students.

The national 2008 “100 Best Values in Public Colleges” was published in the magazine’s February issue and also online.

According to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine’s Web site, schools are chosen depending on academic quality, cost and financial aid, with academic quality holding the most weight at almost two-thirds of the total.

“Students are able to get a very personalized opportunity for mentorships for personal development that rivals even the most expensive schools in the country,” Levin-Stankevich said.

Senior Stacy Reddy, an art education major said UW-Eau Claire was a good choice for the list because of the reasonable tuition and ability to rent textbooks.

She also said that with the low student-faculty ratio, students get the chance to know professors on a personal level and what they expect from students.

Eau Claire has strong business and nursing programs and a nationally recognized study abroad program, along with a good art education program, Reddy said.

“Eau Claire is a good value when we have that many good programs for a school that doesn’t cost that much,” she said.

According to Kiplinger’s Web site, the magazine includes admission rates, student-faculty ratios, four- and six-year graduation rates, freshman retention rates and the percentage of the 2006-07 freshman class scoring 600 or higher on the verbal and math components of the SAT or scoring 24 or higher on the ACT when determining academic quality.

According to the site, cost and financial aid is determined by the total cost for in-state students (which consists of tuition, mandatory fees, room and board and estimated expenses for books). Along with the average cost for a student with need after subtracting grants, average cost for a student without need after subtracting non-need-based grants, average percentage of need met by aid and average debt a student accumulates before graduation.

Levin-Stankevich said that keeping the cost as affordable as possible while continuing to have a competitive admissions process are ways to keep the university on the list.

“The challenge we have now is how we keep doing that,” he said. “But if we can do it, we are unique.”