Top Private College Values in New England, 2014

New England residents seeking to attend college within a reasonable distance from home have plenty of smart options. Among our list of the top values in private colleges, 32 of them are in New England. Click on any school in the map or list below to get more details about its academic quality and affordability.

Private Universities

Yale University (New Haven, Conn.) Rank among all private universities: 1 Prominent alumni: George H.W. Bush, Anderson Cooper, Jodie Foster

Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.) Rank among all private universities: 4 Prominent alumni: Ben S. Bernanke, President Barack Obama, Mira Sorvino

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.) Rank among all private universities: 8 Prominent alumni: Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, Kofi Annan, Benjamin Netanyahu

Brown University (Providence, R.I.) Rank among all private universities: 12 Prominent alumni: Mary Chapin Carpenter, John D. Rockefeller, Ted Turner

Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.) Rank among all private universities: 13 Prominent alumni: Theodor Geisel, Mindy Kaling, Shonda Rhimes

Tufts University (Medford, Mass.) Rank among all private universities: 20 Prominent alumni: Hank Azaria, Peter Gallagher, Pierre Omidyar

Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) Rank among all private universities: 23 Prominent alumni: Doug Flutie, John F. Kerry, Amy Poehler

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, Mass.) Rank among all private universities: 27 Prominent alumni: Robert H. Goddard, Elwood Haynes, Nancy Pimental

Brandeis University (Waltham, Mass.) Rank among all private universities: 28 Prominent alumni: Angela Davis, Jeffrey Lurie, Debra Messing

Clark University (Worcester, Mass.) Rank among all private universities: 35 Prominent alumni: Matthew Goldman, Padma Lakshmi, Hugh Panero

Bentley University (Waltham, Mass.) Rank among all private universities: 40 Prominent alumni: Joaquin E. Barcardi III, Dave Pietrycha

Emerson College (Boston) Rank among all private universities: 45 Prominent alumni: Jay Leno, Seth Grahame-Smith, Henry Winkler

Northeastern University (Boston) Rank among all private universities: 50 Prominent alumni: Gregory Jarvis, Wendy Williams

Boston University (Boston) Rank among all private universities: 51 Prominent alumni: Barbara Jordan, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Julianne Moore

Providence College (Providence, R.I.) Rank among all private universities: 60 Prominent alumni: Christopher Dodd, Patrick J. Kennedy

Saint Michael’s College (Colchester, Vt.) Rank among all private universities: 68 Prominent alumni: Tom Bowman, Tom Freston, Hon. Patrick Leahy

Simmons College (Boston) Rank among all private universities: 80 Prominent alumni: Ali Brown, Gwen Ifill, Allyson Schwartz

Fairfield University (Fairfield, Conn.) Rank among all private universities: 97 Prominent alumni: Carmen Wong Ulrich

See top values in liberal arts colleges in New England.

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Liberal Arts Colleges

Williams College (Williamstown, Mass.) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 4 Prominent alumni: David Strathairn, Steve Case

Amherst College (Amherst, Mass.) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 5 Prominent alumni: Dan Brown, Charles Mann, Jeffrey Wright

Bowdoin College (Brunswick, Maine) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 6 Prominent alumni: Former U.S. President Franklin Pierce, Nathaniel Hawthorne

Middlebury College (Middlebury, Vt.) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 7 Prominent alumni: Ronald H. Brown, Bill Delahunt, Ari Fleischer

Wellesley College (Wellesley, Mass.) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 16 Prominent alumni: Hilary Rodham Clinton, Nora Ephron, Diane Sawyer

Wesleyan University (Middleton, Conn.) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 17 Prominent alumni: Michael Bay, Robert Allbritton, Robert E. Hunter

Colby College (Waterville, Maine) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 18 Prominent alumni: Dan Harris, Andrea Nix Fine, Cecily von Ziegesar

College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, Mass.) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 21 Prominent alumni: Erika Bearman, Chris Matthews, Hon. Clarence Thomas

Bates College (Lewistown, Maine) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 31 Prominent alumni: Robert Goodlatte, Bryant Gumbel, Elizabeth Strout

Mount Holyoke College (South Hadley, Mass.) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 37 Prominent alumni: Elaine Chao, Emily Dickinson, Frances Perkins

Smith College (North Hampton, Maine) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 40 Prominent alumni: Julia Child, Margaret Mitchell, Nancy Reagan

Connecticut College (New London, Conn.) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 42 Prominent alumni: Tim Armstrong, Suzi Oppenheimer, Peter Som

Trinity College (Hartford, Conn.) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 48 Prominent alumni: Edward F. Albee, Mitchell M. Merin, Linda A. Wells

College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor, Maine) Rank among all liberal-arts colleges: 70 Prominent alumni: Amy Goodman, Chellie Pingree

See top values in private universities in New England.