The Kiplinger ranking recognizes affordable four-year colleges with outstanding academics—colleges regarded as a solid investment for students and their families. Their calculations are based on factors such as admission rate, incoming freshman SAT/ACT score, student-faculty ratio, four-year graduation rate, and financial aid, with quality criteria accounting for 55 percent and cost accounting for 45 percent (see methodology).

UMBC’s profile in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance offers additional detail.

Earlier this fall, Times Higher Education recognized UMBC as one of the world’s top universities for 2016 – 17. The publication noted that UMBC “defines itself as an ‘honors university’ committed both to cutting-edge research and to providing a excellent and demanding education for highly motivated students.” The profile also highlighted UMBC’s reputation as an innovator, noting, “It has never been afraid to pioneer new models of teaching and research, and new ways of contributing to the regional economy.”

U.S. News & World Report has also recently honored UMBC as a top global university and, just ahead of UMBC’s 50th anniversary, as a national leader in innovation and teaching.

See UMBC News for details on additional recent university rankings.

Image: UMBC library in autumn. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.