http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Ivy

Public Ivy

Public Ivy is a term coined by Richard Moll in his 1985 book Public Ivies: A Guide to America’s best public undergraduate colleges and universities to refer to universities that provide an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price. Public Ivies are considered, according to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, to be capable of “successfully competing with the Ivy League schools in academic rigor... attracting superstar faculty and in competing for the best and brightest students of all races.”

Origins of the term

Moll, who earned his Master of Divinity degree from Yale University in 1959, was an admissions officer at Yale, and the director of admissions at Bowdoin College, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Vassar College. He traveled the nation examining higher education and in particular, identified eight public institutions (the same as the number of Ivy League members) which he thought had the look and feel of an Ivy League university. In addition to academic excellence, other factors considered by Moll include visual appearance, age, and school traditions as well as certain other Ivy League characteristics.

The original Public Ivies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Ivy#The_original_Public_Ivies