Welcome to Ole Miss! Oddly enough, the school nickname has nothing to do with Mississippi. Way back in the year 1897, the university first published its yearbook. To find a name for their yearbook, they held a contest to decide on the best name. Elma Meek, a student at the time, submitted “Ole Miss” which happens to be a title often given to the mistress of a plantation. This became the title of the yearbook, and eventually became the name by which the university is affectionately known.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching ranked the University of Mississippi as one of the top 100 Research Extensive institutions in the nation. The University is also among the top 30 public institutions with the largest endowments per student. The School of Pharmacy ranks 20th in the nation among schools of pharmacy for funding from the prestigious National Institutes of Health and 2nd among pharmacy schools for total federal funding. The university is also a space-grant college and graduated the first space lawyer.
For those interested in southern culture and literature, you’ll be glad to know that the University of Mississippi owns William Faulkner’s estate, Rowan Oak. The town of Oxford surrounding the university inspired many of Faulkner’s works. His Nobel Prize for Literature is held in Archives and Special Collections at J. D. Williams Library on the Ole Miss campus. The university also houses the largest blues music archive in the United States with some of the contributions made by B.B. King.
Tuition is $4,932 for in-state residents and $11,436 for out-of-state residents plus $6,578 for room and board. All of it adds up to make the University of Mississippi a relatively inexpensive higher education option. An option its 17,000 students decided to take.
USA Today named Oxford as one of the 6 best college towns in the nation. It has also been included as one of the top 100 small towns in America. Join your friends down at the square for some food, a little music, and maybe check out one of their chic shops. If you enjoy the big city, Memphis, Tennessee is only about an hour away.
Since Oxford is a small town, you can live just about anywhere and still be near campus. The cost of living here is 15% less than the national average. Unemployment rates are also below the national average. There is a huge variety in the Oxford real estate market. A fixer-upper will start at about $50,000 and a typical 3 bedroom 2 bath house goes for about $75,000 and up. Even though it’s a small town the market tops out at 4.9 million, but if you are going to college you probably can’t afford that one. Median price for homes in Oxford is $222,500. Homes here have appreciated 11.3% the last 5 years.
Ole Miss isn’t a terribly large school. That means you don’t have to fight off thousands and thousands of students for the best apartments. However, Oxford isn’t a large town either, so that means supply is limited. It’s best to start looking early in the summer.
A one bedroom apartment will start at about $400, and 3 bedroom apartments are available for as low as $950.