Best Value Colleges

The Princeton Review's newest ranking of best value colleges may surprise many prospective students. You won't find regional public universities or community colleges on the list, but it is packed with prestigious schools with high price tags. At the top of the private college list are Swarthmore and Harvard, and the public list finds the University of Virginia and the New College of Florida in the #1 and #2 positions. While you wouldn't think a school that costs $50,000 a year deserves the label of "best value," Princeton Review does have a decent rationale for their lists--many of these expensive and prestigious colleges and universities have excellent financial aid and high quality instruction. For more on The Princeton Review rankings, check out this article in USA Today.

Bargain hunters, however, might want to look into places like Olin College of Engineering, The Cooper Union, and military institutes such as West Point. They're all free. And the community college route is always an economical way to complete a lot of course work towards a Bachelor's Degree.