Yet another national publication has identified Missouri University of Science and Technology as one of the best deals in the nation for a college education.

This latest recognition comes from U.S. News & World Report, which ranks Missouri S&T seventh in the nation among public universities in its “Great Schools, Great Prices” listing (called “Best Value Colleges” in the online edition). The listing was published in the magazine’s 2012 “America’s Best Colleges” guidebook. The guidebook rankings were released on Wednesday, Sept. 12.

Missouri S&T is ranked 46th overall in the “Great Schools, Great Prices” listing.

U.S. News determined the rankings based on a university’s academic quality and “the 2011-12 net cost of attendance for a student who receives the average level of need-based financial aid.”

According to the guidebook, “The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal. Only schools ranked in or near the top half of their categories are included, because U.S. News works on the premise that the most significant values are among colleges that are above average academically.”

In the category of nationally ranked universities, U.S. News lists Missouri S&T at No. 60 among public universities (125th overall). S&T is also ranked 45th nationally among doctoral-granting public universities for undergraduate engineering education (75th overall).

This ranking follows similar recognition of S&T’s affordability from Newsweek magazine, which rated Missouri S&T as the most affordable public university in the nation.

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 Aug. 6, 2012.

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 received previous national recognition for providing a high return on investment, or ROI. 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.