The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has topped a noteworthy list of schools that provide a stellar education without burdening students with insurmountable financial difficulties.

For the sixteenth year in a row, Kiplinger, a business news publisher that produces the most widely read economic forecasting periodical in the world, recognized the stomping grounds of Tar Heels for its superior value when compared to 300 other public colleges.

Kiplinger determines the rankings of schools on this list by weighing the yearly costs of in-state tuition against financial aid allotments and the average amount of debt incurred by graduates.

Compared to students at private universities like Harvard, where tuition costs regularly top $60,000 per year, Tar Heels can embrace Carolina blue without losing undue amounts of sleep over green banknotes.

State residents pay approximately $21,500 each year to attend UNC-Chapel Hill, but that amount is reduced to $4,250 after need-based aid is secured — a net decrease of 80 percent. Salary yardsticks for graduates are also pegged by Kiplinger at $51,000, which helps to offset average debts of $20,000 that most students incur.

Forty-four percent of Tar Heels receive some form of financial aid according to a press release from UNC-Chapel Hill, and 60 percent of seniors graduated with no debt in 2015.

Thrifty academics can see the value rankings of public and private institutions for themselves in the February 2017 issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, or online at www.kiplinger.com.

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