Washington DC is not part of any state, which makes them the best, most impartial judges to determine which is the best state in America. The answer? Maryland, of course– but not necessarily for the reason you might expect.
According to the Post, Maryland gets top billing for keeping college costs low (ish) and relatively stable. In fact, public university tuition in Maryland has risen at a slower rate than in any other state, despite the high quality of some of our public universities.
That isn’t to say that the cost of college in Maryland isn’t rising at alarming rates. In 2002-2003, a year of in-state tuition, fees, and room and board cost an average of $12,332 in the state. Ten years later, costs had risen about 47 percent, to $18,094. That outpaces inflation, certainly–but it’s way, way less than the 162 (!!) percent that tuition rose in New Hampshire in the same period.
The Post gives some of the credit to Governor O’Malley’s 2007-2011 tuition freeze, and the state legislature’s efforts to cap tuition hikes to 3 percent per year.
(Okay, so the Post has also deemed a few other states to be the best. But we’ll take the compliment anyway.)
