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Kiplinger's rankings page. See larger image

As the nation debates the rising cost of higher education, Cornell students can at least feel assured that they're getting their money's worth. Cornell is ranked No. 15 on Kiplinger's list of the best values in private universities for 2014 – up from No. 18 last year – on a list of the top 100. The university has appeared on the Kiplinger list for several years, moving a few places higher each year.

The top 50 liberal arts colleges and top 50 universities were listed in the December issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine. The full list is available online at www.kiplinger.com/links/college.

The rankings are based on data from more than 600 private universities and liberal arts colleges, and take into account tuition, room and board and other costs – with adjustments for financial aid policies – balanced against academic quality as measured by graduation and retention rates and student-faculty ratios.

Cornell's commitment to financial aid helps ameliorate tuition increases for more than 48 percent of undergraduate students, said Elmira Mangum, vice president for budget and planning. "Cornell will administer nearly $245 million in financial aid this year that benefits roughly 6,700 students," Mangum said.

In September, U.S. News and World Report ranked Cornell ninth in its "Great Schools at Great Prices" ranking, a similar measure that balances costs against academic quality.

"Glee" star Jane Lynch, M.F.A. '84, was honored Sept. 4 with the 2,505th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6640 Hollywood Blvd.

Jane Lynch at Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. Photo: Dan Steinberg/Invision. See larger image

Lynch, who studied theater at Cornell, won an Emmy in 2010 and a Golden Globe award in 2011 for her role as cheerleader coach Sue Sylvester on the Fox series "Glee" and has appeared in numerous other TV and film roles. Last May, she played Miss Hannigan in the Broadway revival of "Annie."

Lynch became the first woman among at least nine other Cornellians with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: actor Dane Clark '26, actor Dan Duryea '28, actor/editor Hal Fishman '53, director Howard Hawks '18, comedian Bill Maher '78, actor Adolphe Menjou (1912), the Wizard in "The Wizard of Oz" Frank Morgan (1912), "Superman" Christopher Reeve '74 and actor Franchot Tone '27.

Throughout his 43-year career, Cornell plant breeder Ronnie Coffman has sown seeds of scientific and social change across continents and generations.

Ronnie Coffman. Photo: Darcy Branchini. See larger image

Now his efforts have been recognized with the inaugural World Agriculture Prize, awarded by the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences, an organization that represents more than 600 universities worldwide.

As a rice breeder at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines in the 1970s, Coffman, Ph.D. '71, helped one generation survive the ravages of war by ensuring food security throughout Southeast Asia.

As leader of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative – and the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department for International Development – he is helping another generation combat new strains of wheat rust that threaten to devastate world food supplies.

Coffman is the professor behind Cornell's popular Agriculture in Developing Nations course and the director of International Programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He organizes Ph.D. training courses at the West African Center for Crop Improvement and mentors the next generation of plant breeders and international development professionals.

A Kentucky native, Coffman arrived at Cornell as a graduate student in 1967. His first trip off the continent was to Puerto Rico as a participant in the class he now leads. Coffman now travels more than 150 days and 250,000 miles a year in pursuit of advancements in agriculture and rural development.