Five Southeastern Conference schools are among the top 100 “Best Value” schools of 2009, but LSU isn’t one of them.The Princeton Review, the test-prep company known for its annual college listings, and USA Today recently teamed up to compile a list of the top 100 “Best Value” public and private universities and colleges in the country.The University of Georgia was listed as No. 9, and the universities of Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee and Vanderbilt University also made the list.”Trying to determine why University ‘X’ is a better value than University ‘Y’ is much more complicated and complex than either of these publications would admit,” said Michael Gargano, LSU System vice president for Student and Academic Support Services. The Princeton Review selected the schools based on surveys of administrators and students at more than 650 public and private college and university campuses. “Last year, we were in there as one of the most affordable,” said Mary Parker, executive director of undergraduate admissions and student aid. “We did have a tuition increase last year, and that is one thing we’re looking at. But I would need to do a little more research on the study to figure out why we dropped out of those rankings.”The rankings were based on more than 30 factors in three core areas of academics, costs and financial aid.”Universities have different reporting mechanisms and various ways to account for performance,” Gargano said. “This makes it extremely hard to compare universities.”Ratings were also based on student surveys about issues ranging from professors’ accessibility to class sizes and student-faculty ratios.The rankings use average annual cost freshmen paid for the 2008-09 school year as a determination factor. In-state tution costs about $3,000, and out-of-state tuition costs about $11,000, according to The Princeton Review.”Compared to other Southern region flagship campuses, tuition for LSU is significantly lower than the other flagship campuses,” Gargano said. “The higher tuition cost, the more funds the campus generates and therefore increased financial aid packages for students.”Gargano said one measure to determine the “Best Value” schools is financial aid. He said although the University may not appear as strong in the financial aid category, it’s an effort by the state Legislature to keep tuition as a low rate.The Princeton Review and USA Today don’t factor in the TOPS scholarship, Gargano said. Approximately 93 percent of LSU students receive TOPS.Ben Zelevansky, who directs Princeton Review’s data analysis, said students can still get a solid education at a good value from a school that didn’t make the list, but the schools listed really go “above and beyond.”Staff Writer Lindsey Meaux contributed to this report.—-Contact Leslie Presnall at [email protected]