If you’re looking for bang for your buck, Ohio State is among the top 100 public schools in the country, according to a new study.

OSU is ranked 31st on a list of the 100 Best Values in Public Colleges for resident undergraduate students this year. The list is produced annually by business and financial news organization Kiplinger.

The list was assembled by comparing data for academic quality — such as standardized test scores, acceptance and retention rates and graduation rates — and cost, including tuition, fees, room and board, and books. Academic quality data were given almost two-thirds of the weight in calculating the rankings, according to the Kiplinger Web site.

OSU placed 29th in value for non-resident students. For both resident and non-resident students, OSU ranked fourth among the 10 public schools in the Big Ten conference.

OSU was one of only two Ohio schools to make the list, with Miami University ranked 62nd for resident students and 70th for non-residents.

The list, which was designed to rank “traditional four-year schools with broad-based curricula,” excludes schools that focus on special programs, such as military service academies, according to the Kiplinger site.

“You have to keep the rankings in perspective,” said Dolan Evanovich, OSU’s vice president for Strategic Enrollment Planning. For students choosing a college, “rankings don’t carry the day,” he said.

Parents are more likely to pay attention to rankings and cost than students, Evanovich said.

As for what OSU considers important indicators of quality, Evanovich said the relevant measurements are the size, quality and diversity of applicants.

For his part, OSU President E. Gordon Gee has a fickle history with rankings, specifically those published by the magazine U.S. News and World Report. Gee has both dismissed the magazine’s rankings as tuition-based, calling them “the worst,” and lauded OSU for climbing the rankings. The magazine’s most recent rankings, which consider academic quality but not cost, placed OSU 53rd among all national universities.