The Princeton Review Has Released Its 2023 Best Value Colleges Lists & Rankings
Career Placement, and Alumni Network
NEW YORK, April 25, 2023 / — The Princeton Review®— known for its education services and school rankings in dozens of categories important to college applicants and their parents alike—today reported its Best Value Colleges for 2023.
This project, which the company debuted in 2004, annually presents a list of the nation’s “Best Value” colleges based on an analysis of more than 40 data points that broadly cover academics, affordability, and career outcomes of graduates.
"We commend—and recommend—each of the 209 schools that made our Best Value Colleges list for 2023,” said Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief of The Princeton Review. “They share three exceptional distinctions: stellar academics, strong career prospects for their graduates, and affordable cost via generous financial aid or a comparatively low sticker price (or both!). For these reasons and many others, our Best Value Colleges are truly a select group. They comprise only about 8% of the nation’s 2,637 four-year undergraduate degree-granting institutions.”
The Princeton Review chose the 209 schools—135 of which are private and 74 of which are public— based on data from its surveys of administrators at more than 650 colleges in 2022–23. Survey topics covered academics, cost, financial aid, career services, graduation rates, student debt, and alumni support. The company also factored in data from its surveys of students attending the colleges and PayScale.com’s surveys of alumni of the schools about their starting and mid-career salaries and job satisfaction.
In the project’s primary ranking list category, which names in rank order the 50 public and 50 private Best Value Colleges that made the list, Georgia Institute of Technology is #1 on the Best Value Public Colleges list and Massachusetts Institute of Technology is #1 on the Best Value Private Colleges list—both schools moving up from the #2 rank on these lists in 2022.
The six other ranking lists name the top 20 public and the top 20 private schools in specific categories. A list of the categories follows indicating the #1 public and #1 private schools on the lists. (The Princeton Review does not rank the 209 schools overall from 1 to 209.)
The Princeton Review has posted the Best Value Colleges for 2023 list and the project’s seven ranked lists on its website at https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/best-value-colleges. There, visitors to the site can access detailed information on the company’s surveys for the project, methodology for the rankings, and profiles of the schools which include the ROI (Return on Investment) ratings The Princeton Review editors tallied for the schools.
Best Value Colleges categories and the #1 public and private schools on the 2023 lists
- Best Value Colleges Overall
#1 Public: Georgia Institute of Technology / #1 Private: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Best Value Colleges For Financial Aid
#1 Public: University of Virginia / #1 Private: Vassar College (NY)
- Best Value Colleges for Career Placement
#1 Public: Georgia Institute of Technology / #1 Private: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Best Value Colleges for Internships
#1 Public: William & Mary (VA) / #1 Private: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (IN)
- Best Value Colleges for Alumni Network
#1 Public: Pennsylvania State University / #1 Private: University of Notre Dame (IN)
- Best Value Colleges for Making an Impact
#1 Public: State University of New York—College of Environmental Science and Forestry / #1 Private: Pitzer College (CA)
- Best Value Colleges for Students with No Demonstrated Need
#1 Public: Georgia Institute of Technology / #1 Private: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Interesting stats about schools on the lists for 2023:
Among the 209 Best Value Colleges (nine of which are tuition-free):
- Nearly half (45%) admit 50% or more of their applicants. The school on the list that had the highest admission rate (95%) in 2022 is Kansas State University.
Among the schools on the Top 50 Public Best Value Colleges overall list:
- The average grant to students with need is $14,108.
- The median starting salary of graduates is $69,736.
- The mid-career salary of graduates is $126,692.
Among the schools on the Top 50 Private Best Value Colleges list:
- The average grant to students with need is $52,650.
- The median starting salary of graduates is $79,820.
- The mid-career salary of graduates is $149,384.
Franek noted key factors in The Princeton Review’s decision to compile its annual Best Value College list, specifically college applicants’ and parents’ regard for the earnings and employment potential of a college degree in light of their concerns about college costs and their ability to fund the degree. “Among 12,225 college applicants and parents of applicants we surveyed for our 2023 College Hopes & Worries Survey, nearly half (46%) considered the major benefit of a college degree as ‘a potentially better job and higher income,’ yet 82% deemed financial aid as ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ necessary for them to afford college. We offer our Best Value Colleges lists—along with our services, courses and books that maximize prospects for admission and financial aid—with hopes that they will be helpful resources for students to identify, get into, get aid from, and graduate from the best and most rewarding colleges for them.”
Methodology
To curate its Best Value Colleges for 2023, The Princeton Review analyzed data from its surveys of administrators at more than 650 colleges in 2022–23 on their school’s academics, cost/financial aid, and career services, as well as on student debt and graduation rates. The company also factored in data from its surveys of students attending the schools (a practice that has characterized nearly all Princeton Review school rankings since 1992), and data from PayScale.com’s surveys of alumni of the schools about their starting and mid-career salaries and their job satisfaction. Overall, more than 40 data points were used to tally The Princeton Review’s ROI (Return on Investment) rating scores for the schools which determined the overall selection of schools for the list. Various data points from the surveys were used to tally the project’s seven categories of ranking lists. Detailed information on the project methodology, the criteria for the ROI rating, and the basis for each of the seven ranking lists is posted at https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/best-value-colleges/methodology.
About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admissions services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school–bound students as well as working professionals achieve their education and career goals through its many education services and products. These include online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors; online resources; more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House; and dozens of categories of school rankings. Founded in 1981, The Princeton Review is now in its 42nd year. The company’s Tutor.com brand, now in its 23rd year, is one of the largest online tutoring services in the U.S. It comprises a community of thousands of tutors who have delivered more than 23 million one-to-one tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review is headquartered in New York, NY. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University. For more information, visit PrincetonReview.com and the company's Media Center. Follow the company on Twitter (@ThePrincetonRev) and Instagram (@theprincetonreview).
SOURCE: The Princeton Review
WEBSITE: www.princetonreview.com
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CONTACT: Jeanne Krier, Publicist for The Princeton Review, pressoffice@review.com.
NOTE TO EDITORS: Members of the media can access the complete list of Best Value Colleges for 2023 in two formats at https://www.princetonreview.com/press/best-value-colleges/reporter-resources. One is alphabetical by state/city/school name. The other is alphabetical by school name. Each indicates if the schools are on any of the project’s seven ranking lists, and if so, their ranks on the lists. Rob Franek, The Princeton Review's Editor-in-Chief, is available for interviews on this project as well as on the company’s other college ranking lists, and its annual College Hopes & Worries Survey.
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