Towson University earns kudos from Money magazine

By Jan Lucas on July 11, 2017

Towson University ranks 150th in Money magazine’s 2017 Best Colleges for Your Money list, outperforming 79 percent of the competition, according to results just released by the magazine.

Towson University, Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland, College Park were the highest-ranked Maryland institutions on the Money magazine list, ahead of 12 other local colleges and universities.

Money has drawn on the research and advice of dozens of the nation’s top experts on education quality, financing, and value to develop a new, uniquely practical analysis of 711 of the nation’s best-performing colleges.

Approximately 2,500 four-year colleges were evaluated using the following criteria: at least 500 students; sufficient, reliable data to be analyzed; not be in financial distress; and have a graduation rate that was at or above the median for its institutional category (public or private), or have a high “value-added” graduation rate (in other words: score in the top 25 percent of our test of graduation rates after accounting for the average test scores and percentage of low-income students among its enrollees).

With that list reduced to 711 colleges, Money’s experts ranked colleges on 17 factors in three categories: educational quality, affordability and alumni earnings.

“We are particularly proud of this ranking from Money magazine because it recognizes values that are consistent with our mission,” said Towson University President Kim Schatzel. “It affirms our university’s commitment to diversity, inclusivity, affordability, academic excellence, and graduation rates.”

Money’s Best Colleges for Your Money rankings are the first to combine the most accurate pricing estimates available with all reliable indicators of alumni financial success, along with a unique analysis of how much “value” a college adds when compared to other schools that take in similar students.

This week’s Money ranking follows on the heels of other recent recognition for Towson University by prominent national publications. TU was recently ranked fourth on BestColleges.com’s “Best Colleges in Maryland” list, receiving a score of 66.82 from the site. Only Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland College Park and St. Mary’s College ranked ahead of Towson University.

Additionally, Towson University held the No. 181 spot in Forbes’ recently released 2017 Best Value Colleges ranking. The annual ranking indexes 300 public and private U.S. schools that deliver the best bang for the tuition buck based on tuition costs, school quality, post-grad earnings, and student debt and graduation success. Of the other Maryland schools ranked, only the University of Maryland, College Park finished ahead of TU.