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What’s the best value in Oregon higher education? According to one national publication it’s not the University of Oregon, Oregon State or the University of Portland. It’s Â鶹´«Ã½ Fox University, this summer ranked No. 1 in Oregon in Money magazine’s 2017-18 “Best Colleges for Your Moneyâ€� list.

In addition to being recognized as the top value among all schools in the state, Â鶹´«Ã½ Fox also compared favorably to Christian universities nationwide, coming in at No. 5 in ²Ñ´Ç²Ô±ð²â’s rankings among all schools in the 121-member Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.

Nationally, Princeton University ranked No. 1 overall, with big names like the University of Michigan (#3), the University of California, Berkeley (#4), UCLA (#5), Stanford (#5) and Harvard (#10) among the top 10. Â鶹´«Ã½ Fox came in at No. 191 on the publication’s national list, considerably higher than the eight in-state competitors listed: the University of Portland (#255), Oregon State University (#274), Reed College (#365), Pacific University (#408), Willamette University (#408), Linfield College (#529), the University of Oregon (#600) and Lewis & Clark College (#645).

Rankings were based on 27 factors in three categories: quality of education, affordability and outcomes. Quality of education included factors like graduation rates, instructor quality and peer quality. Affordability incorporated the net price of a degree, average student debt and affordability for low-income students. The outcomes category, meanwhile, considered statistics such as graduate earnings, the percentage of students moving from low-income backgrounds to upper-middle-class jobs, and the results of a survey on “job meaning� (“Does your work make the world a better place?�).

The 2017-18 ranking also gave weight to new data developed by a Stanford economist that shows how many low-income students schools propelled into the upper middle class over the past 20 years – pointing to colleges that helped students achieve the “American Dream.�

Initially, more than 2,400 schools were considered. Of those, only 711 met the criteria to be included in the publication’s final list. .