College

FAQs on Our Rankings of Private College Values

Here are answers to your questions about how we pick the schools on our list.

By Jane Bennett Clark, Senior Associate Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance

October 24, 2011

Why isn’t my school on the list?

Our lists exclude schools that do not meet our criteria for academic quality and affordability. We start with data on more than 600 private institutions and sort the schools first based on quality measures, such as the admission rate, the test scores of incoming freshmen, and four- and five-year graduation rates. We then add cost data, including tuition, fees, room and board and financial aid, and re-rank the institutions accordingly. It is this combination of quality and affordability -- certainly not any desire on our part to exclude a particular school or state -- that determines which schools make our lists for best value.

SEE ALSO: How We Ranked the Private Colleges for 2011-12

Why don’t any schools from my state appear on the list?

In some states, no private college or university meets our criteria for quality and affordability.

Why do you divide the rankings into two lists?

To better compare apples to apples, we group the institutions into two categories. One ranks liberal arts colleges, which focus on undergraduate education, and the other ranks private universities, which include graduate students.

Do the costs listed in the tables reflect one academic year or all four years of undergraduate education?

The costs reflect the amount each institution charges and the average amount of financial aid each institution offers for one academic year. The rankings also reflect the average debt student borrowers accrue as undergraduates.

I don’t see Truman State University, which is a terrific school at a great price, on either list. How come?

Our private school rankings are just that -- they consider only private colleges and universities. We have separate rankings for best values in public colleges and universities (in which Truman State is ranked 20 for 2010-2011). Look for the 2011-12 rankings for best values in public colleges in Kiplinger’s February 2012 issue.

I’ve read that college rankings are based on subjective opinions, not hard data. Is that true?

Unlike other college rankings, ours are based on measurable criteria, such as student-faculty ratios, admission rates, on-time graduation rate, sticker price and financial aid. Neither our opinion nor anyone else’s affects the calculation. See How We Rank the Schools.

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