Swarthmore College tops Kiplinger’s ‘best value’ list

Kiplinger has named its 300 Best College Values for 2017. The rankings, introduced in 1998, now combine public schools, private universities and private liberal arts colleges into a single, comprehensive list. Kiplinger also ranked the top 100 best values in each category. Unlike other rankings, which include subjective criteria in their assessments, Kiplinger restricts its analysis to measurable standards of academic quality and affordability. Kiplinger’s was the first ranking to focus on value, their core mission.

Swarthmore College took the #1 spot on the overall list, followed by Davidson and then Princeton, which took first place among private universities. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was ranked best public college for the 16th consecutive time. Washington and Lee, which earned the #1 spot on last year’s overall list, took third place for best liberal arts college, after Swarthmore and Davidson.

The full rankings are now available online at kiplinger.com/links/colleges and will appear in print in the February 2017 issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, on newsstands Jan. 3.

“There’s no way around it: College is expensive, and it’s going to stay that way for a long time. So, with our rankings — which weigh affordability alongside academic quality — our goal is to help students and their parents understand what’s really worth the price,” said Janet Bodnar, Editor of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. “While some schools ranked higher than others, all 300 schools on the list are of extraordinary value, being chosen out of a universe of nearly 1,200 schools.”

At Kiplinger.com, visitors have access to the “Find the Best College for You” tool and other tools that let readers sort by admission rate, average debt at graduation and other criteria for all schools, plus in-state and out-of-state cost for public colleges. Also online: slide shows of the top ten schools in different categories, archives of past years’ rankings and an FAQ on the ranking methodology.

Kiplinger’s quality measures, which are weighted more heavily than cost, include the admission rate, the percentage of students who return for sophomore year, the student-faculty ratio and the four-year graduation rate. Cost criteria include sticker price, financial aid and average debt at graduation.

The top 10 in the “Overall Value” category are: Swarthmore College; Davidson College; Princeton University; Duke University; Washington and Lee University; Harvard University; Thomas Aquinas College; Vanderbilt University; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Wellesley College.