[Courtesy of Truman State University]

Truman State University jumped 16 spots on Kiplinger's list of 500 Best College Values for 2019, coming in as the No. 55 school in the nation.

The Kiplinger rankings combine public schools, private universities and private liberal arts colleges into a single, comprehensive list. Truman is the only Missouri public institution in the top 300.

"We are always gratified to be recognized in Kiplinger's national college ranking as it focuses on the essential components of a Truman education – high quality and value. A liberal arts and sciences education is the education for the 21st century, and to have the impactful work of our students, faculty and staff recognized with such a striking move forward in the rankings is outstanding," Truman President Dr. Susan Thomas said. "We are committed to the continuous advancement of the Truman experience."

Kiplinger also ranks the best values in each category. The analysis is based on objective measurements of academic quality and affordability. Again, Truman is very highly ranked, coming in as the No. 5 public school in the nation for out-of-state students and No. 22 for those in-state.

When broken down by region, Truman is the No. 1 public school in the Midwest, ranked above much larger flagship institutions such as the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and Purdue, which rounded out the top five. Among both public and private schools in the Midwest region, Truman ranked No. 11.

All the schools on the list meet the Kiplinger definition of value: a high-quality education at an affordable price. The publication analyzed academic measures, including the student-to-faculty ratio, the test scores of incoming freshmen and the percentage of students who return for sophomore year. The most points were awarded for graduation rates, and this year Kiplinger's revised the rankings to include five- and six-year graduation rates, as well as colleges that do an outstanding job of graduating students with financial need.

The full Kiplinger rankings are available online at kiplinger.com/links/colleges and will appear in print in the September 2019 issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance, on newsstands Tuesday.