GC&SU named a best buy

Georgia College & State University was named one of America’s 100 Best College Buys in an annual report given by Institutional Research & Evaluation, Inc.

The honor distinguishes GC&SU as a university that provides the highest quality of education at the lowest possible price.

GC&SU, the University of Georgia and Georgia Institute of Technology were the only universities chosen from Georgia.

“We are pleased to be one of America’s Best Buys,” said Dr. Dorothy Leland, president of GC&SU. “One of our objectives as a public liberal arts university is to make available the kind of education one usually finds only in high quality private colleges at public university prices. Our inclusion in this group of institutions shows us that we are succeeding.”

To qualify as one of America’s 100 Best College Buys a university must be an accredited, four-year institute offering bachelor degrees; offer full residential facilities including residence halls and dining services; have their most recent entering freshman class reporting high school grade point average and or SAT/ACT score equal to or above the national average for entering college freshmen; and have an out-of-state cost of attendance for three quarters or two semesters below the national average cost of tuition, fees, room and board or not exceeding the national average cost by more than 10 percent.

To acquire the statistics, Institutional Research & Evaluation Inc., an organization geared toward the recruitment and retention of students for institutions of higher education, surveyed 1,477 accredited U.S. colleges and universities between April 1 and July 31, 2005. Of the institutions surveyed, 1,044 schools responded.

The national average cost-of-attendance based on the regular cost at a private institution and the out-of-state cost at a public institution for 2005-2006 was $23,830. GC&SU’s out-of-state cost was $21,232.

The national average entering college freshmen SAT score for fall 2004 was 1092. GC&SU’s freshmen average was 1116.

GC&SU fit all the criteria and thus was chosen.

“GC&SU is working toward becoming a nationally recognized public liberal arts university and on increasing academic standards,” said Mitch Clarke, director of university communications. “GC&SU will continue to improve the quality of the whole educational experience. It is an achievable goal.”

Senior Jason Dean, a special education major, thinks that GC&SU is a good bargain.

“It’s cheaper than UGA and Tech, and I feel like the School of Education is better at GC&SU,” said Dean.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Dec 2 2005. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry