Magazine: U. is hardly a bargain

If you're looking for the biggest bang for your buck, you had better look somewhere else. The University was conspicuously absent from two national ratings of the "best buys in education" released this month. In Money Magazine's 1994 Edition of Best College Buys Now, which outlines the 100 best universities based on tuition and academic qualities, the University is nowhere to be found. Rather, Yale, Princeton, Harvard and Columbia universities, along with Dartmouth College, join the ranks of number one – New College of the University of South Florida. U.S. News and World Report, which placed the University last in the Ivy League last month in its 1994 College Guide, does not even mention the University in its Best Buys issue released earlier this month. The rankings were devised based on "sticker price" – the U.S. News quality ranking divided by the total of tuition, fees and room and board for the 1993-94 academic year. Interim President Claire Fagin called the rankings "nuts." "It's nuts," she said last night. "Clearly we should've been there. It's unfortunate." But the University can find solace because it was listed in U.S. News as a "Runner-Up" in the discounted tuition rate category. This rate takes into account financial aid and grants that entering freshmen receive. The University still ranked beneath its Ivy counterparts in this category, though. Money has a category specifically dedicated to "costly schools that are worth the price," and the University did not make the list. "A total of 68 schools charge more than $17,000 in tuition and fees," the magazine states. "But, only 16?scored high enough in our value analysis to justify their lofty prices." Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Columbia and Dartmouth were mentioned, along with other competitor schools such as Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Money's value analysis weighs faculty resources, faculty development, core faculty, library resources, student services budget and admissions criteria. Fagin said prospective students and their parents will wonder why the University was not listed. But, she added, the magazines probably based the ratings at least partially on the size of the University's endowment, which she says is considerably smaller than those of its Ivy competitors. "I think we provide students with an education which is of tremendous value," she said. "I haven't seen anything to doubt this, or else I wouldn't be here." College Dean Matthew Santirocco echoed Fagin. "The goal of 'One University' and our ongoing attempts to realize it sets Penn apart in a very positive way from all our other competitors," he said. He said the University's intellectually-entrepreneurial, research-orientated, internationally-based and urban nature set it apart. "We simply have a product that is particularly attractive and certainly different than that offered by the other Ivies," Santirocco said. "It will appeal to a very special type of student." Fagin said the rankings are "puzzling." "To say it's not annoying and aggravating and disappointing, that would be stupid," she said. "But I can't say I understand it."