A recent survey ranks Ohio State 39th in the top 100 best values in public colleges in the United States.

The survey, released by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine, said more than 500 public colleges and universities were scored and compared in the survey published in the October issue.

“Kiplinger’s ranking confirms what the university has been saying, that as Ohio’s top-ranking university we offer a moderate tuition range and unlimited opportunity at a reasonable price,” said Elizabeth Conlisk, spokeswoman for OSU.

The sluggish economy and falling stock market are being blamed for faltering state revenues, which are putting a strain on higher education budgets. With budgets being cut and modified, tuition rates are increasing. Parents and students are looking for the best value with the best education.

The survey was created to be used as a tool to compare in-state and out-of-state tuition as well as graduation rates, student-faculty ratios and the size of the undergraduate student body.

Additional quality measures used included questions of how many freshmen return for their sophomore year, how much each college spends per student on instruction and how much is spent on maintaining its library resources.

The data was collected by Wintergreen-Orchard House, a division of Riverside Publishing, which gathers statistics each year on more than 600 four-year public colleges and universities around the country. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Education were also applied.

The overall formula used to rank the schools put a greater emphasis on quality than cost. OSU was in the top 10 universities for having a student-faculty ratio of 13-to-1. Comparable schools were the College of New Jersey, University of Delaware and University of Georgia.

“This shows that even though we are the second-largest institution in the nation, we have the resources and capability to have a personalized feel and interaction amongst the students and faculty,” said Eddie Pauline, president of the Undergraduate Student Government.

OSU’s four-year graduation rate was 23 percent, while the six-year graduation rate was 56 percent.

“Improved academic advising has affected the graduation rate, and the four-year rate is increasing,” Conlisk said. “Advisers are better able to help students select the courses they need and know when they need to be taking them.”

The survey showed a wide range of schools, from Texas A&M University to Appalachian State University. The list cannot perfectly uncover the school that fits best with a student, but it is a starting point for searching for the school that fits the student’s needs and the parent’s budget.

“As far as value, OSU offers a top-notch, quality education without the price tag of most comparable universities. I could not be more satisfied with the amount of courses, the number of resources, and the knowledgeable staff available to me as a student here,” said Ben Coleman, a junior in computer engineering.

Topping the list overall were University of North Carolina, University of Virginia and the University of California at Berkeley. In Ohio, Miami University was ranked at 32 and Ohio University was ranked at 96.