All of the University of California's undergraduate campuses rank among the top public education bargains in the nation, according to a recent survey by Kiplinger's Personal Finance.

The magazine's study of the 100 best values in public education for Fall 2003 ranked UC San Diego 16th nationally, followed by UC Berkeley at 17th and UCLA at 37th.

Other UC campuses on the list were UC Davis ranked 52nd, UC Irvine 58th, UC Santa Barbara 65th, UC Santa Cruz 94th, and UC Riverside 100th.

UC campuses also offered the best value in the state, holding eight of the nine California spots on the national list.

Kiplinger's says its survey "shines a spotlight on schools that combine great academics with reasonable costs."

The rankings were determined by compiling a list of the top 100 public colleges based on freshman SAT or ACT scores as well as other measures of academic quality -- including admission rates, student-faculty ratios, faculty quality, school spending on instruction and libraries, and graduation rates.

The survey then ranked each school on a combination of quality and cost components, including fees and tuition, room and board, the average percentage of need met by financial aid and the average student debt upon graduation.

The results show that UC campuses offer excellent value for California students.

"Even with recent fee increases, UC students receive a top-notch education at an unbeatable price," said UC President Robert C. Dynes. "UC is making every effort to preserve access to a high-quality education for California's students, and strong financial aid programs are an important part of that commitment."

The study also gives UC campuses high marks as bargains for out-of-state students, with UC Berkeley ranking 9th on the list, UC San Diego 11th, UCLA 28th, UC Davis 35th, UC Irvine 36th, UC Santa Barbara 60th, UC Santa Cruz 79th and UC Riverside 94th.

UC's total average fees and tuition currently stand at $5,437 for resident undergraduates and $19,647 for nonresident undergraduates. UC recently had to increase fees for the first time in seven years because of deep state budget cuts, but financial aid has mitigated the impact of the increase for many UC students.

Even with the increases, fees for resident undergraduates are still more than $1,200 below the average charged at other public universities that UC uses for fee comparison purposes. Those are the universities of Illinois, Michigan and Virginia and the State University of New York.

The Kiplinger's Personal Finance study and list of the top 100 colleges is available online at:

http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2003/11/colleges.html

http://kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/

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www.universityofcalifornia.edu