From UNC Asheville News Serices:

UNC Asheville has moved into the 21st spot in the nation in this year’s “Top 100 Best Buy Colleges” roster, published this week by Forbes magazine. UNC Asheville had been ranked 26th last year.

The “Best Buy” ranking is part of Forbes’ larger annual ranking of the nation’s best 650 undergraduate institutions. Forbes based its rankings of best undergraduate colleges on the quality of teaching, career prospects, graduation rates, and student debt levels. The Forbes rankings were prepared by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, in Washington, D.C.

UNC Asheville is one of eight universities in North Carolina included in the Forbes “Top 100 Best Buy” list. Also included are: UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, Appalachian State University, UNC Wilmington, East Carolina University, UNC Greensboro, and UNC Charlotte.

Earlier this summer, the “Fiske Guide to Colleges” listed UNC Asheville among the nation’s top colleges, and named UNC Asheville’s Environmental Studies Program to its list of pre-professional programs with unusual strength in preparing students for careers.

Also this year, Princeton Review rated UNC Asheville as a “Best Value” public college – one of only 75 institutions nationwide to earn this distinction – and listed the university among America’s “green” colleges. In January, Kiplinger Personal Finance ranked UNC Asheville as one of the nation’s 50 best values in public colleges. Last fall, U.S. News & World Report ranked UNC Asheville eighth in the nation among Public Liberal Arts Colleges.