UNC Asheville, which is ranked among the top American universities in a number of polls, was upbraided March 26 in a magazine article that contends that it ranks as one of the 11 “least valuable colleges” in America.

The article, headlined “These U.S. Colleges and Majors Are th Biggest Waste of Money,” appeared in Atlantic magazine. It contends that UNCA and 10 other schools on the list register a 20-year net return on investment of worse than negative $30,000.

The story contends that the aforementioned results mean that “not going to college is at least $30,00 more valuable than taking the time to pay for and graduate from one of these schools.”

UNCA ranked fifth least-valuable on the list, trailing Shaw University and Fayetteville University in North Carolina, Savannah State University in Georgia and Bluefield College in Virginia.

Based on data compiled by PayScale, the article surveyed 96 students and cited out-of-state tuition costs. The story takes the opposite approach from a previous Atlantic article that used the PayScale date to determine the most valuable universities and degrees nationwide.

Meanwhile, UNCA Chancellor Anne Ponder took issue with the article’s methodology and said she did not think it would hurt the university, which recently was ranked by Forbes magazine as 20th nationally as a “Best Value College.”