Out-of-state students attending Missouri University of Science and Technology are receiving an education at the most affordable public university in the nation, according to a new report from Newsweek magazine.

Missouri S&T is included twice in Newsweek‘s ranking of the nation’s 25 “Most Affordable Schools.” S&T ranks 24th in the nation in terms of affordability for out-of-state students and eighth in affordability for in-state students. When considering public universities only, Missouri S&T tops the list for out-of-state students. S&T is ranked third among public universities in terms of affordability for in-state students.

The affordability ranking is part of Newsweek‘s “College Rankings 2012” listings. The collection of rankings was released online Monday (Aug. 6, 2012).

To compile the list, Newsweek considered four factors: debt, total cost, financial aid and future earnings. The magazine also “considered affordability on a college-by-college basis as a metric of long-term affordability,” Newsweek explains on the website.

S&T and the other schools on the list are those considered by Newsweek to provide the most return on investment “when measured through a lens of the potential earnings with a degree from each institution as well as the average debt level of graduates.” They are places “where students are most able to shoulder the cost of their degree – and where the education has a proven record of being a valuable investment relative to other schools.”

Missouri S&T has been recognized previously for providing a good return on investment. In 2010, Bloomberg BusinessWeek ranked Missouri S&T 13th in the nation for a 30-year return on investment equal to $1,181,000, or an annualized net ROI of 12.4 percent.