By Kyle Peveto, Page Editor
ACU was deemed a top college buy by an independent research group that publishes a top 100 list each year.
Institutional Research and Evaluation, Inc., a research and consultation organization specializing in the recruitment and retention of students for institutions of higher education, publishes America’s 100 Best College Buys each year and has included ACU each year since the list began seven years ago.
To qualify for the list, a university must provide “the highest quality in education at the lowest cost.”
“ACU definitely meets that criteria,” said Michelle Morris, assistant vice president for University Alumni Relations, in an e-mail. “We’re consistently in the lowest quartile of price, yet we rank in the highest quartile of quality.”
ACU is average among other Texas private universities in price but stands out in quality, said Jack Rich, executive vice president of finance.
“We have a dedicated faculty and staff that are committed to providing a great education to our students,” Rich said.
That faculty also works to keep the price of the university competitive.
“We run our operation very efficiently,” he said. “We keep our costs down; we don’t have a lot of extra people that run our cost up.”
The list is not ranked, rather is published in alphabetical order. ACU was one of six schools in Texas listed among the top bargains and the only private school in the state that made the list. Other Texas schools include Texas A&M University, University of Texas, Texas Tech University, University of North Texas and Texas A&M at Galveston.
Data for the list compared cost based on 30 semester hours for out-of-state students. ACU came in at $640 less than the University of Texas and $274 more than Texas A&M.
Institutional Research and Evaluation also publishes a list of America’s Best Christian Colleges, which has also included ACU for the past seven years and will be released later this month.
ACU released the information Sept. 15, published the press release on the university’s Web site and will publish it again as a part of the next issue of ACU Today.
“We are considering ways to use this information in advertising and other promotional efforts,” Morris said.
