BATON ROUGE – LSU once again ranks as one of the 100 best values in public higher education, according to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. The personal finance magazine has released its annual ranking of four-year institutions that deliver a stellar education at an affordable price. The annual public school rankings appear in Kiplinger’s February 2011 issue – on newsstands today – and online at www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges.

LSU ranks 76th – ahead of peer institutions like the universities of Alabama, Colorado, Oklahoma and Oregon and Auburn University – and in a similar range to schools such as Missouri and Tennessee.

“We’re proud of this ranking and we know LSU’s tuition is low, but remember, you’re only a bargain if you deliver a quality education,” said LSU Chancellor Michael Martin. “That’s why we’re going to have to come up with creative solutions to counter the budget cuts we’re facing. We must ensure that our quality does not suffer.”

Kiplinger’s findings are similar to last fall’s report from the College Board on trends in college pricing, which found that tuition and fees for an in-state student at LSU, $5,764, are 24.2 percent below the national average, in spite of a 10-percent increase in the last year.

“The plan that is circulating through Louisiana’s Flagship Coalition is exactly what we need to help us maintain our value,” said LSU Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost John Maxwell Hamilton. “Managing costs and controlling price are critical to LSU’s future and maintaining that value.”

For more information on how budget cuts affect the university, visit www.lsu.edu/budget/. For more information on the Louisiana Flagship Coalition’s plan for the future of LSU, visit http://www.lsu.edu/departments/curb/docs/ThePlan_complete_20101213.pdf.

Web visitors to Kiplinger’s site will find special interactive features including a reader’s choice poll, a slideshow of the top 10 schools, and data sortable by criteria such as state, tuition cost, average debt, student/faculty ratio and admission rate. Parents and college-bound students can dive into dozens of quality and affordability measures for each of the 100 schools on the list.

Private colleges have lately run about $36,000 a year – a sharp contrast to the public schools on Kiplinger’s top 100 list, in which 20 charge the same as or less than the average annual in-state sticker price of $16,140.

“Despite rising tuition costs, there are still many first-rate institutions providing outstanding academics at an affordable price,” said Janet Bodnar, editor of Kiplinger’s. “Schools like these on the Kiplinger 100 list prove graduates can enter the workforce with a great education – and without a huge cloud of debt.”