12:45pm | The cost of higher education is a bearing concern that needs little introduction. In fact, Cal State Long Beach (CSULB) President F. King Alexander, in an exemplary speech given to the House Education and Workforce Committee in 2003 while acting president of Murray State University, stated it succinctly:

My testimony today, on the issue of rising college costs, reflects my concerns […] as an individual that is still paying back his student loan debts, who just so happens to be a university president. […] Unfortunately for public and other lower cost colleges and universities, misleading information can perversely shape public perceptions about college costs. This fact is evidenced when the public discussion focuses on percentage increases in tuition instead of real dollar increases. […] If the federal government is to help improve the efficiency of the marketplace of higher education it can contribute materially by collecting, calculating, and distributing actual program cost information by types of institutions, and, then, use such information as a more viable basis for its allocation of federal subsidies. Such an initiative would simplify federal policies while not penalizing states that continue to commonly finance their higher education systems and institutions that have kept actual costs down.”

Clearly, Alexander was heading somewhere — and he took it to CSULB.

CSULB, fresh off the heels of already being named by Kiplinger’s for the same honor, has once again been named one of the nation’s “Best Value” public colleges and universities by The Princeton Review, which teamed up with USA Today to announce its list of the 150 “Best Value Colleges for 2012.”  The list was released this past Tuesday.
 
The Princeton Review selected the 150 institutions – 75 public and 75 private – as its “best value” choices for 2012 based on its surveys of administrators and students at 650 colleges and universities the company regards as the nation’s academically best undergraduate institutions. The selection criteria covered more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, costs of attendance, and financial aid.
 
CSULB was one of just two California State University (CSU) campuses making the list of the top 75 public institutions; Cal Poly—San Luis Obispo also received the honor.
 
In its profile of CSULB, the editors at The Princeton Review note, “California State University, Long Beach is ‘very large and diverse,’ ‘affordable to virtually anyone,’ and ‘geared toward preparing students to enter the real world.’  There are eight colleges and tons of majors.  ‘The academic experience at this school is what you make of it,’ said a political science major.   Many CSULB faculty members are ‘wonderfully passionate’ and ‘available outside of class,’ ‘especially in the upper-level courses.’  ‘Teachers are here because they want to teach, not do research,’ said an aerospace engineering major.”
 
The complete lists are posted on the USA Today website and The Princeton Review website.