ANOTHER FEATHER IN THE CAP FOR EOU

Eastern Oregon University has given La Grande another reason to be proud.

Eastern was recently named in a national magazine, Consumers Digest, as being one of the top 10 "best value" four-year universities in the nation.

Originally,

Consumers Digest listed EOU as having the sixth-best value for its educational buck in the nation. However, after crunching the numbers again through a complicated formula, Consumers Digest discovered that EOU actually has the second-best value of any university in the nation.

This survey doesn't just take into account the cost of education. While affordable tuition is a big factor, the survey also includes academic criteria, such as class size, number of Ph.Ds on the faculty, graduation rate, etc.

Eastern is in some prestigious company. Our local university beat out larger institutions such as Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Utah State, Mississippi, Louisiana State, Wyoming, Kansas State, Kentucky and Nebraska. Only Florida International University in Miami edged out Eastern.

Eastern has stated its goal to step up its recruiting throughout Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, not just for athletes but for academic stars, too. One of the reasons Eastern gets a high ranking is that the school doesn't charge a special tuition for out-of-state students, a helpful recruiting tool.

The Consumers Digest survey will help get the word out nationwide that Eastern is not only an affordable place to get a college education, but a quality institution, as well.

Editorials in this column are the opinion of The Observer's editorial board. The board is comprised of Ron Horton, publisher; Ted Kramer, editor; Jeff Petersen, news editor; and Pierre LaBossierre, wire editor. Letters from readers, signed columns on this page and cartoons represent the opinions of the writer/artist and do not necessarily reflect the position of the editorial board.