UNC-Chapel Hill is top value in Kiplinger's ranking

“Why is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill a perennial favorite? Credit its stellar academics, reasonable sticker price and generous financial aid,” the magazine stated. “At 77 percent, Carolina’s four-year graduation rate is about 45 percentage points higher than the average rate for four-year public schools.”

The magazine considers total cost for in-state students, including tuition, fees, room and board and books. UNC-Chapel Hill undergraduates pay about $7,700 in yearly tuition and fees, while out-of-state students pay nearly $28,500.

“Access and affordability are what allow us to attract great students from a broad range of backgrounds with different interests and different career goals,” Chancellor Holden Thorp said in a statement. “I can’t think of an aspect of this university that is more crucial to who we are. It’s the marriage of that with the academic excellence that creates the environment and the unique nature of Carolina.”