Two publications have included Kansas University on their most recent college rankings.

Mother Jones placed KU on a list of 10 unranked “cool schools that will blow your mind, not your budget.”

Praising the school as the best value for “heartland hellraisers,” the magazine praised KU’s distribution of financial aid — more than $181 million in 2007-08. It shared space on the top 10 with mostly smaller schools, including Kentucky’s Berea College and Tennessee’s Fisk University.

In another magazine’s rankings, KU didn’t fare as well, placing 181st of 258 schools on Washington Monthly’s list, just below Pacific University and UNC-Greensboro. The University of California-Berkeley was listed as Washington Monthly’s top school.

That magazine ranked schools on three criteria — social mobility, research and service.