private institutions, ranking private liberal arts colleges and
universities that combine outstanding economic value with exceptional
education.
Kiplinger's has selected these 3 private universities from the state
of North Carolina:
# 6 Duke University
# 25 Wake Forest University
# 28 Elon University
Kiplinger's also named Davidson College as their #4 pick in best value
among liberal arts colleges.
Pomona College tops the liberal-arts list for the second consecutive
year, and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) heads the
private university list for the fourth time running. The annual
private school rankings appear in Kiplinger's December 2009 issue—on
newsstands November 10—and online now atwww.kiplinger.com/reports/best-
college-values/.
Financial resources continue to be tight for both parents and colleges
in the troubled economy, but many students who applied to college for
the 2009–10 academic year actually received more financial help than
the previous year's applicants. Independent colleges boosted financial
aid by 9% while keeping tuition increases—an average of 4.3%—to their
lowest levels in four decades, increasing the average cost of a year
at a private school to about $35,600. Worried about competition from
public schools, some schools accepted more applicants, and many
vigorously pruned expenses.
"This year's top 100 private schools met the challenges of a slumping
economy with brio," says Janet Bodnar, editor of Kiplinger's. "With so
many private institutions offering generous financial aid packages,
families are finding that private college is still affordable. In
fact, the average tuition price can be as little as half or less of
the sticker price—making them very competitive with public
universities."
Like many schools, Pomona College has coped with reduced endowment
revenue and greater financial need by cutting expenses on everything
except academics. As a member of the five-college Claremont
consortium, Pomona is able to save money by sharing resources,
including professors, across campuses. At this small school of some
1,500 students, almost all of its freshmen return for sophomore year,
and 90% of its seniors graduate on time. As for financial aid, the
average financial-aid package brings the $50,568 sticker price down to
a modest $16,454.
Caltech students enjoy the ultimate in academic nurturing: a student-
faculty ratio of three to one, the lowest ratio on the Kiplinger 100
list. Here, 100% of incoming freshmen score more than 700 on the math
section of the SAT—and are educated by an elite faculty boasting five
Nobel Prize winners. Caltech charges a relatively low sticker price of
$46,629, and it knocks more than half off, on average, for students
who qualify for need-based aid. Students graduate with an average debt
of $9,871, the second-lowest on Kiplinger's universities list.
Making an appearance on the Kiplinger 100 for the first time is the
College of St. Benedict, which ranks #42 on the liberal-arts list, and
BradleyUniversity, which comes in at #42 among private universities.
Liberal-arts institutions offering the lowest tuition include Wheaton
(#22), Wofford (#31), College of St. Benedict (#42), Hillsdale (#45),
Knox (#47) and Thomas Aquinas (#50). On the university side, Elon
(#28), Creighton (#38), Whitworth (#39), Bradley (#42), the University
of Tulsa (#45) and Gonzaga (#50) offer sticker prices under $40,000.
Selected from a pool of more than 600 private institutions provided by
Peterson's, schools in the Kiplinger 100 were ranked according to
academic quality and affordability—with quality accounting for two-
thirds of the total. The complete article—along with sortable rankings
and methodology—is available at www.kiplinger.com/reports/best-college-values/
.
The Kiplinger 100 rankings are:
Liberal Arts Colleges (1-50)
1. Pomona College, Claremont, Cal.
2. Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pa.
3. Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.
4. Davidson College, Davidson, N.C.
5. Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, Cal.
6. Amherst College, Amherst, Mass.
7. Washington and Lee Univ., Lexington, Va.
8. College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass.
9. Colby College, Waterville, Maine
10. Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine
11. Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt.
12. Haverford College, Haverford, Pa.
13. Carleton College, Northfield, Minn.
14. Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y.
15. Bates College, Lewiston, Maine
16. Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.
17. Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.
18. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
19. Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa
20. Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
21. Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio
22. Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill.
23. Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y.
24. Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, Cal.
25. Macalester College, St. Paul, Minn.
26. Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colo.
27. Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa.
28. Barnard College, New York, N.Y.
29. Centre College, Danville, Ky.
30. St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
31. Wofford College, Spartanburg, S.C.
32. Lafayette College, Easton, Pa.
33. Occidental College, Los Angeles, Cal.
34. Scripps College, Claremont, Cal.
35. Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio
36. DePauw University, Greencastle, Ind.
37. Denison University, Granville, Ohio
38. Trinity College, Hartford, Conn.
39. Furman University, Greenville, S.C.
40. Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, Minn.
41. Rhodes College, Memphis, Tenn.
42. College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, Minn.
43. Connecticut College, New London, Conn.
44. Illinois Wesleyan Univ., Bloomington, Ill.
45. Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Mich.
46. Beloit College, Beloit, Wis.
47. Knox College, Galesburg, Ill.
48. Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
49. Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa.
50. Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, Cal.
Universities (1-50)
1. Cal. Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Cal.
2. Princeton, Princeton, N.J.
3. Yale, New Haven, Conn.
4. Rice, Houston, Tex.
5. Harvard, Cambridge, Mass.
6. Duke, Durham, N.C.
7. Columbia, New York, N.Y.
8. Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.
9. Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.
10. MIT, Cambridge, Mass.
11. Stanford, Stanford, Cal.
12. Brown, Providence, R.I.
13. Emory, Atlanta, Ga.
14. University of Richmond, Richmond, Va.
15. Northwestern, Evanston, Ill.
16. Univ. of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind.
17. Vanderbilt, Nashville, Tenn.
18. Cornell, Ithaca, N.Y.
19. University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
20. Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Md.
21. Washington Univ. in St. Louis, St. Louis, Mo.
22. Tufts, Medford, Mass.
23. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass.
24. Brandeis, Waltham, Mass.
25. Wake Forest, Winston-Salem, N.C.
26. Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
27. Lehigh, Bethlehem, Pa.
28. Elon University, Elon, N.C.
29. Villanova University, Villanova, Pa.
30. Bentley, Waltham, Mass.
31. Trinity, San Antonio, Tex.
32. University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla.
33. Univ. of So. California, Los Angeles, Cal.
34. University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.
35. Providence College, Providence, R.I.
36. Emerson College, Boston, Mass.
37. Clark, Worcester, Mass.
38. Creighton, Omaha, Neb.
39. Whitworth, Spokane, Wash.
40. Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, Pa.
41. Butler, Indianapolis, Ind.
42. Bradley, Peoria, Ill.
43. Santa Clara Univ., Santa Clara, Cal.
44. Pepperdine, Malibu, Cal.
45. University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Okla.
46. Marist College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
47. Boston Univ., Boston, Mass.
48. Tulane, New Orleans, La.
49. Case Western Reserve, Cleveland, Ohio
50. Gonzaga, Spokane, Wash.
About Kiplinger's
For nine decades, the Kiplinger organization has led the way in
personal finance and business forecasting. Founded in 1920 by W.M.
Kiplinger, the company developed one of the nation's first successful
newsletters in modern times. The Kiplinger Letter, launched in 1923,
remains the longest continually published newsletter in the United
States. In 1947, Kiplinger's created the nation's first personal
finance magazine. Located in the heart of our nation's capital, the
Kiplinger editors remain dedicated to delivering sound, unbiased
advice for your family and your business in clear, concise language.
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