Best Value Colleges in the U.S. 2016-2017: Comparison of Four Publications

Defined by Business Dictionary, a “Best Value” is “a tradeoff between price and performance that provides the greatest overall benefit under the specified selection criteria.” Which U.S. schools are the real “Best Values?” Let’s compare the lists from various media.[/vc_column_text][vc_message message_box_color=”blue”]Media used in the comparison table below are often quoted by most U.S. colleges and universities.

Kaplinger’s Personal Finance
Forbes Magazine
U.S. News & World Report
Money Magazine

The data table below shows U.S. schools which can produce the best values for their graduates

Rank	Kiplinger's	Forbes	U.S. News	Money
1	U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	U of California, Berkeley	Harvard U	Princeton U
2	U of Virginia	Brigham Young U	Princeton U	U of Michigan-Ann Arbor
3	U of California, Berkeley	U of Florida	Yale U	Harvard U
4	College of William and Mary	U of California, Los Angeles	Stanford U	Rice U
5	U of Michigan	U of California, San Diego	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	U of California-Berkeley
6	U of California, Los Angeles	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Columbia U	Brigham Young U-Provo
7	U of Florida	U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	Dartmouth College	Amherst College
8	U of Maryland, College Park	Georgia Institute of Technology	Duke U	Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
9	Georgia Institute of Technology	Harvard U	California Institute of Technology	U of Virginia-Main Campus
10	U of Georgia	U of California, Irvine	Brown U	Stanford U
11	U of Wisconsin-Madison	California Institute of Technology	U of Pennsylvania	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
12	U of Washington	Stanford U	U of North Carolina-Chapel Hill	Yale U
13	U of Texas at Austin	Harvey Mudd College	U of Chicago	Texas A&M U-College Station
14	U of California, Santa Barbara	Princeton U	Rice U	U of California-San Diego
15	Binghamton U, State U of New York	SUNY, Binghamton (known as Binghamton U)	Brigham Young U-Provo	U of Florida
16	U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	Cornell U	U of California-Irvine
17	U of California, San Diego	U of Texas, Austin	Emory U	U of California-Davis
18	North Carolina State U	Texas A&M U, College Station	Northwestern U	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State U (known as Virginia Tech)
19	New College of Florida	U of Virginia	Clarkson U	U of Maryland-College Park
20	U of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus	Rice U	Johns Hopkins U	U of California-Los Angeles
21	California Polytechnic State U, San Luis Obispo	U of Pennsylvania	Texas A&M U-College Station	Clemson U
22	Ohio State U	College of William & Mary	St. John Fisher College	U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
23	U of California, Irvine	U of Washington	U of Rochester	Pomona College
24	Clemson U	U of Maryland, College Park	Mercer U	California Institute of Technology (known as Caltech)
25	Miami U	U of California, Santa Barbara	U of Notre Dame	Saint Johns U
26	Baruch College of the City U of New York	U of California, Davis	U of California-Santa Cruz	U of Pennsylvania
27	U of Connecticut	Carnegie Mellon U	Clark U	Vanderbilt U
28	Florida State U	Yale U	Wake Forest U	Earlham College
29	College of New Jersey	Virginia Tech	Pepperdine U	Washington and Lee U
30	U of California, Davis	Claremont McKenna College	Brandeis U	U of Washington-Seattle Campus
31	Truman State U	Duke U	Washington U in St. Louis	Brown U
31	U of Texas at Dallas	Washington and Lee U	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	U of Notre Dame
33	Rutgers U - New Brunswick	Georgetown U	Rochester Institute of Technology	Dartmouth College
34	Purdue U	Brown U	Georgetown U	Wellesley College
35	Stony Brook U, State U of New York	Dartmouth College	Tufts U	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main campus
36	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State U (Known as Virginia Tech)	Cornell U	Illinois Institute of Technology	College of William and Mary
37	New Mexico Institue of Mining and Technology	Colgate U	Duquesne U	Washington State U
38	Michigan State U	Cooper Union	Lehigh U	U of Connecticut
39	U of Delaware	Tufts U	U of the Pacific	Duke U
40	State U of New York College at Geneseo	Columbia U	SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry	Hamilton College
41	U of Pittsburgh	Haverford College	Boston College	U of California-Santa Cruz
42	Texas A&M U	U of Notre Dame	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	Virginia Military Institute
43	Auburn U	Williams College	Case Western Reserve U	Massachusetts Maritime Academy
44	Penn State U, University Park	Virginia Military Institute	Syracuse U	Bowdoin College
45	St. Mary's College of Maryland	Colorado School of Mines	Carnegie Mellon U	U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
46	U of Massachusetts Amherst	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	U of Virginia	Davidson College
47	U of Colorado Boulder	Swarthmore College	Loyola U Chicago	College of Saint Benedict
48	U of South Carolina	Pomona College	U of California-Irvine	Middlebury College
49	U of Tennessee	Rutgers U, New Brunswick	Yeshiva U	Williams College
50	U of California, Santa Cruz	The Citadel	Marquette U	U of Texas at Austin

Data Sources and Ranking Metrics:

Publish Date: December 2016
Source of Data: Peterson’s Undergraduate Database
Ranking Metrics: Based on the median earnings of graduates at a particular college 10 years earlier and who received federal financial aid.

Publish Date: March 2016
Source of Data: Center for College Affordability and Productivity.
Ranking Metrics: “based on tuition costs, school quality, graduation success rate and post-graduate earnings.” – Forbes Magazine

Publish Date: September 2016
Source of Data: U.S. News & World Report
Ranking Metrics: based on both academic quality and cost at each national university. (Only the “Best Value” rankings for national universities are provided in this blog post.)

Publish Date: July 2016
Source of Data: various
Ranking Metrics: judging colleges on 24 factors, “including widely accepted quality measures such as graduation rates, affordability measures such as how much students and parents have to borrow, and measures of alumni success such as how much recent graduates earn.” – Money Magazine

Best Value Colleges in the U.S. 2016-2017: Comparison of Four Publications

Data Sources and Ranking Metrics:

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