DU was ranked as the seventh least affordable school in the nation by The Daily Beast in their annual college rankings lists, released this year on Oct. 16.

According to their website, where the ranking can be found, the Daily Beast “ranked colleges based on the average net price (or price paid after need-based aid) and the graduation rate for each school to find those that are not affordable relative to other colleges.”

DU is listed as holding an average net price of $31,244 and a six-year graduation rate of 78.2 percent. According to the ranking, the average debt of graduates is approximately $26,628.

The net price accounted for 80 percent of school’s scores within the ranking, while six-year graduation rate accounted for 20 percent of the final ranking.

“The university understands that there are many organizations conducting research and issuing rankings,” said Theresa Mueller, university external communications specialist. “The University does not follow each one closely since we do not believe it greatly influences decisions being made by prospective students.”
The Daily Beast ranked St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Penn. as the most unaffordable school in the nation with the average debt of graduates standing at $40,160, according to the ranking, and a six-year graduation rate of 75.8 percent.

The Daily Beast is a daily news and opinion news website which launched in 2008. The site also released lists this year of the “most affordable colleges,” “happiest colleges,” and “sexiest colleges,” where DU was ranked number 16.