Kiplinger Magazine has released its annual list of best values in public U.S. universities and colleges. For the fifth straight year, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tops the list followed by (2) University of Florida; (3) University of Virginia; (4) College of William and Mary; (5) New College of Florida; (6) University of Georgia; (7) State University of NY at Geneseo; (8) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; (9) State University of NY at Binghamton; and (10) University of Washington.

Where does my current employer, the University of MA, Amherst rank? How about #81. For comparison, my undergraduate alma mater, the University of CA, Irvine ranks #70 and my graduate alma mater, the University at Albany, State University of NY, ranks #46.

Just so you know, Kiplinger’s rankings differ from those of U.S. News and World Report, who rank public colleges on pure academic excellence, rather than value. On their list of top public universities, UMass Amherst is #50 with U.C. Berkeley, Univ. of VA, U.C.L.A., Univ. of MI, UNC Chapel Hill, U.C. San Diego, GA Institute of Technology, U.C. Irvine, Univ. of IL at Champagne-Urbana, and U.C. Santa Barbara constituting the top 10 public schools.

Well, fellow Minutemen (and women), maybe we’ll place higher next year (don’t we say that every year?) . . .