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Subscribe to RSSAccording to a new study, more than 26 million people are in debt after going to college. To offset the cost of higher education, the Princeton Review and USA Today took a closer look at the schools that will give you the most bang for your buck. Rob Franek of the Princeton Review discusses their findings.
When it comes to college, cheap doesn't mean easy. Students and parents looking for the best degree for their buck can find some great ideas in the newly released Princeton Review Best Value Colleges for 2013.
Most of them are colleges which say they "meet 100 percent of need." You say what you can pay, and the school covers the difference. The trick is having the high grades and test scores needed to get in.
In compiling the list, what the Princeton Review looked for is those schools that provided a "good value, but weren't making families mortgage their futures," Robert Franek, Senior VP of Publishing and author of The Princeton Review's "The Best Value Colleges," told TODAY.
The company winnowed down to 150 schools, 75 public and 75 private, from the 650 the company considers the nation's academically best undergraduate institutions. Those schools were selected from the 2,000 from which the Princeton Review annually gathers data.
The colleges were evaluated on 30 different factors, including selectivity, test scores, scholarships, grants, number of student loans, and the amount of debt graduating students carried. The bulk of the data that went into compiling the results came from self-reported statistics provided by the colleges. A smaller component was a measurement of student satisfaction with their financial aid packages, determined by asking respondents to evaluate several factors on a five-point scale.
[RELATED: Backlash building against college rankings]
However, critics question the rigor of the aspect of Princeton Review's research that is based on student surveys. The Princeton Reviews says the polls can be completed online "anywhere, anytime." In some cases, invitations to take the survey are emailed by the college to their student body.
The Princeton Review's use of student surveys, "is highly susceptible to self-reporting bias," said Jonathan Robe, Research Fellow at The Center for College Affordability & Productivity, which produces its own annual college rankings. "It's not an actual scientific sample. All its really measuring is 'of the students who report data.' Which may not be a representative sample for a prospective student. That's the methodology problem."
Colleges do not pay the Princeton Review to be included on the list, said David Soto, director of content development. Survey results are normally collected every three years, and colleges can request more frequent polling, but they're not assessed a fee, said Soto.
What really helped schools jump to the top of the Best Value list were those that meet 100 percent of students need. These schools will let the students pay what they can pay based on their FAFSA filling, and the college makes up the rest.
"These schools are love letters when it comes to students and financial aid," said Franek. So, "never cross an expensive school off your list just because it's 'expensive."
That said, "You have to get into these schools first," said Franek. "Some of them have 6,7,8% admissions rate." To gain admission, he said, the schools, "look at two levers: GPA and SAT scores. You need to do well in both," and, "start as early as possible."
The Princeton Review's "Top 10 Best Value Public Colleges for 2013"
1. University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
3. New College of Florida (Sarasota)
4. College of William & Mary (Williamsburg VA)
5. Univ. of California - Los Angeles
6. North Carolina State University (Raleigh)
7. University of Wisconsin (Madison)
8. State University of New York at Binghamton
9. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
10. University of Georgia (Athens)
The Princeton Review's "Top 10 Best Value Private Colleges for 2013"
1. Swarthmore College (Swarthmore PA)
2. Harvard College (Cambridge MA)
3. Williams College (Williamstown MA)
4. Princeton University (Princeton NJ)
5. Pomona College (Claremont CA)
6. Yale University (New Haven CT)
7. Rice University (Houston TX)
8. Hamilton College (Clinton NY)
9. Claremont McKenna College (Claremont CA)
10. Grinnell College (Grinnell IA)
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What a delight to find my university No. 5 on the list of public colleges. Back in the day, I received from UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) my B.A. (English), and my M.A. (Journalism).
In addition I obtained my General Secondary Life Teaching Credential, which qualified us to teach any and all classes from grades 7 through 14. I'm still qualified to teach on that credential, although the state department of education in its wisdom, I am told, has decided that credential was "too general" and has substituted a Subject Matter Secondary Credential.
Can any here tell me if this is locked in concrete for today's world? Since my first five years of teaching was in a rural district, and though I was hired to teach English, our Business teacher accepted a position in another district, and I was assigned to pick up her classes in Business including all aspects confronting real world needs...
That's where working my way through college came in handy. I could type after going to night school to learn that when I was in high school (lol yes, I know, times they are and have been a-changing!), and I was able to get white collar jobs part-time while at UCLA. And that was a superb education in the real world itself. It taught me the spectrum needed in business back then.
My two oldest sons are now in college and end up asking me for feedback on their work, which I love to do. I have a daughter and another son in high school, one in middle school, and the youngest son in elementary school.
And, their grandmother did with them as she did with me... "Work your way," she told them, as she had for me. "Forget this 'entitlement' nonsense; you are entitled only to what you earn, and the best education you can get is starting at the bottom as you go to school so you have a jump start when you are graduated."
It worked for me, and my kids don't even question it.
GO BLUE! I'm proud to have a son at the University of Michigan, #9. :)
Glad to see you on this site. Nice move from Consumerist. Keep up the good work!
Me is gowing to gets my ged. Then me go to 1 school of these listing.
You got game.
I know a great way to save money on college: don't go to a university in the States. It's nothing but a business deal for them these days.
Interesting. Univ of Texas didn't make the list....but their football coach is the highest paid public employee in the entire state.
Texas...where brawn is over brain....but then, ya'll already knew that.
Nothing like having a mortgage payment to pay back your college education. Go to a local 2 year school. Find a job in your field then continue on. And/or start in a company that offers college reimbursement of some sort.
Getting in debt 100K plus from college to spend most of your life in a 4x4 cubicle is just plain .....Corporate.
Funny that both UVA and William & Mary are in the list. They are two of the highest priced public institutions in the state. Every year, our General Assembly receives a report on the cost of colleges (both 4 year and 2 year) in the Commonwealth and W&M, UVA, and VA Tech regularly top the list in terms of cost.
I don't doubt they all offer excellent educations but so do many of the cheaper public universities here such as James Madison University and Virginia Commonwealth University. This "poll" feels more like a popularity contest rather than a legitimate value poll.
If you read the article, this list isn't based on tuition rates, so it's not "funny that both UVa and W&M are in [sic] the list." Thirty different factors went into into the value rankings, including selectivity, student self-reporting, and the school's ability to meet students' financial aid requirements, to name a few mentioned in the article. Virginia has many fine public universities and while I attended another great Virginia public university not on this list, I'm thrilled to see my state so well-represented. No sour grapes here!