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2008 Best Value Colleges
Provided by The Princeton Review
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With the cost of college tuition soaring, the biggest obstacle when choosing a college today is figuring out how to pay for it. The experts at The Princeton Review have devised lists of the top ten Best Value colleges in both the Public and Private categories. All of these colleges offer students an excellent experience in the classroom-but won't force them to mortgage their futures to pay for it.
Top Ten Public Best Value Colleges
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New College of Florida (Sarasota, Florida)
The number one public value college for the second year running, NCF is a public honors college where students enter into academic contracts that enable them to work closely with individual faculty members. Low tuition and the distinctive nature of NCF's rigorous academic program make it a tremendous value for both in-state and out-of-state students.
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Truman State University (Kirksville, Missouri)
The plain truth is that Truman is not only one of the premier public liberal arts school in the Midwest, but also the nation. With reasonable tuition for Missouri residents and generously discounted prices for nonresidents, Truman offers a highly rigorous and highly praised liberal arts core curriculum. Need-based aid, as well as merit-based aid, flows freely here.
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University of North Carolina at Asheville (Asheville, North Carolina)
Asheville offers students a private-school education at a public-school price. Financial aid is readily available and there's no red tape to keep financial aid officers and students from working together directly. The school's goal is to help students graduate with the smallest possible debt-any outside scholarships received will go toward reducing student loan amounts.
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University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia)
As one of the premier public universities in the country, UVA wastes little time and fewer resources to ensure its undergraduates have access to an affordable education. AccessUVa, the university's financial aid program, is committed to meeting 100 percent of every student's need and offers loan-free packages for low-income students and loan caps for all other students.
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University of California-Berkeley (Berkeley, California)
The name, the campus, the education (the school boasts eight Nobel Prize-winning faculty members!)-to call it legendary would strip it of its reality. The fact is that Berkeley offers a Saks education at Target prices and every year the school administers nearly $100 million in need-based grants and scholarships. Need we even mention that Berkeley meets 100 percent of demonstrated need for 56 percent of aid recipients?
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University of California-San Diego (San Diego, California)
Fancy a school with an excellent reputation, huge research budgets, and an idyllic climate? Then UCSD is for you. Besides an impressive education, it also has something for your wallet: $92 million in federal, state, and institutional need-based scholarships for students each year. Another $8.3 million in non-need based scholarships and grants are also available.
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University of California-Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, California)
The size of the undergraduate program at UCSC has increased by about 50 percent over the past decade thanks to its blossoming from small school to major national research center. Another thing fueling this population boom might well be the school's commitment to helping all admitted students attend, regardless of economic circumstances. In line with that goal, UCSC provides need-based assistance to 96 percent of all applicants who demonstrate need.
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University of Minnesota-Morris (Morris, Minnesota)
The University of Minnesota-Morris could just be the best kept secret of American colleges with its small class sizes, active and diverse student body, and generous faculty. The school offers a robust measure of financial aid to students (meeting 82 percent of a student's need) along with a literal bounty of donor-funded scholarships available to first-year students.
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University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, Wisconsin)
The quintessential public university located in the quintessential college town, UW Madison offers an essential education at rock bottom rates on a campus so large it's almost bewildering. Another thing that may leave your head spinning is the financial aid on offer. In 2005-2006, the school handed out a total of $3.4 million in need-based scholarships and grants, along with $9.3 million in other aid, and $7 million in athletics scholarships.
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St. Mary's College of Maryland (St. Mary's City, Maryland)
As Maryland's only public honors college, St. Mary's keeps the student body small and the educational value high, meaning that everything's private-school-caliber here, except the price. The school is proud to report that for the students in the entering class of 2006, 100 percent of those that applied for financial aid received it and 64 percent received a grant and/or scholarship.
Top Ten Private Best Value Colleges
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Rice University (Houston, Texas)
At the "Ivy of the South," students enjoy small classes and an array of varied and challenging academic programs. And here's the kicker: They also relish having the lowest tuition of any highly selective private college or university in the United States. In fact, Rice has the lowest debt burden among graduates of highly selective schools. Not to mention admission to Rice is need-blind and the school guarantees that it will meet 100 percent of a student's demonstrated need for all four years.
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Williams College (Williamstown, Massachusetts)
Looking for a solid sense of community and an unparalleled educational experience? Try Williams College, where only about 2,000 students crowd the school's insanely gorgeous and cozy campus in the picturesque Berkshires. Need more convincing? How about an endowment that rings in at over $1.5 billion, or better explained as $700,000 per student.
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Grinnell College (Grinnell, Iowa)
A unique aspect of Grinnell is that all freshmen are required to take "tutorial;" that is, a writing-intensive course that introduces them to academic thinking and research. Here's another unique idea: Grinnell charges itself with determining a qualified student's financial need and dedicates itself to meeting 100 percent of that need, if found.
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Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, Pennsylvania)
Talk about a deal! As one of the most prestigious liberal arts schools in the country, Swarthmore meets 100 percent of the demonstrated need of all admitted students who are U.S. citizens and permanent residents, and approximately half of all undergraduates receive need-based aid every year.
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Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, California)
No textbooks. No lectures. No majors. No minors. No electives. Just the study of Great Books-specifically those that have shaped the development of Western thought. Though it doesn't have some types of financial aid available at other schools since the college receives no federal campus-based funds, TAC has its own aid program funded through generous contributors from its benefactors.
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Wabash College (Crawfordsville, Indiana)
With a tradition of providing quality, single-sex education for gents, Wabash offers students first-rate professors, hands-on administration, and grueling academics. Thanks to being among the top 25 colleges and universities in the country when it comes to endowment per student, the school guarantees that it will meet 100 percent of students' demonstrated need. And then there's always the $3 million worth of competitive academic scholarships on offer each year...
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Whitman College (Walla Wall, Washington)
As a well-funded, well-maintained institution known for its intellectual heft, environmental and political activism, and flexibility in letting students put together a major that suits them, Whitman is also known for one more thing: wicked value. The school boasts an endowment of $330 million, which it says is the highest per student of any college in the Northwest.
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Amherst College (Amherst, Massachusetts)
Amherst College comes spring-loaded with an extremely diverse student body and virtually requirement-free curriculum that gives students unprecedented academic freedom. The school backs this up by guaranteeing financial aid equal to financial need for every student, making college accessible to many who thought they couldn't afford higher education.
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Scripps College (Claremont, California)
Women seeking a challenging core curriculum and impressive educational opportunities (as one of the Claremont Colleges, Scripps encourages students to take classes at any of the four other schools) should find Scripps tough to beat. The school goes out of its way to ensure that all students have access to scholarships and grants, regardless of their economic circumstances. In fact, Scripps meets 100 percent of a student's demonstrated financial need.
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Harvard College (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
You know the name. You know the prestige. You know the reputation. So what's a notoriously expensive school doing on this list? It's simple-you get more than your money's worth at Harvard. And in return, Harvard makes sure that for the approximately 90 percent of students that qualified for financial aid, 100 percent of their need is met.
Other College Rankings

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