This is a listing of schools that offer a high quality education at reasonable cost. Only those colleges and universities listed in the top tiers of their regional categories in the quality rankings were considered for this evaluation. In its methodology, U.S. News includes such attributes as academic reputation, retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, and alumni giving. Regional universities are those defined as offering a full range of undergraduate programs and provide graduate education at the master's level. But unlike national universities, they offer few, if any, doctoral programs.
Full professors teach at all levels.
There are no teaching assistants in the classrooms or laboratories. Seven faculty members and two recently retired professors have received various Fulbright awards.