THE PRINCETON REVIEW AND USA TODAY PRESENT THE PRINCETON REVIEW'S LIST OF "BEST VALUE COLLEGES FOR 2013"

U-Virginia #1 "Best Value Public College" -- Swarthmore #1 "Best Value Private College"

NEW YORK, February 5, 2013 — The Princeton Review today released its annual list of the nation's "Best Value Colleges" – a project the education services company originated in 2004 and has reported since 2009 with USA TODAY.

The 2013 list identifies 150 colleges (75 public and 75 private) The Princeton Review designates as "Best Values" based on assessments that examined more than 30 data points covering academics, cost, and financial aid. The Company chose the 150 schools from 650 colleges and universities at which it conducted institutional and student surveys for this project in 2011-12.

While The Princeton Review does not rank its 150 "Best Value" colleges overall, it reports the top 10 schools in each group: public and private. The University of Virginia is the #1 "Best Value Public College": Swarthmore is the #1 "Best Value Private College." The list features schools in 35 states and DC. California has the most colleges represented (19), followed by New York (18), and Massachusetts (14). The Princeton Review's "Best Value Colleges" list appears in two free online resources and a companion book released today. Today, The Princeton Review posted its list and profiles of the schools at http://www.princetonreview.com/best-value-colleges.aspx and USA TODAY posted an exclusive "Best Value Colleges" interactive database at a dedicated area on USATODAY.com: http://bestvaluecolleges.usatoday.com. There, users can access detailed information about each college and sort the list several ways including by state, tuition, enrollment, and average freshman grant.

The Princeton Review's companion book – The Best Value Colleges: The 150 Best-Buy Schools and What It Takes to Get In (2013 Edition, Random House / Princeton Review, $21.99, February 5) – is available now in bookstores and via online booksellers. The 450-page book has detailed profiles of the colleges and advice for applicants to get admitted to – and get financial aid from – the schools.

The Princeton Review "Top 10 Best Value Public Colleges for 2013" are:
1. University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
3. New College of Florida (Sarasota)
4. College of William & Mary (Williamsburg VA)
5. Univ. of California – Los Angeles
6. North Carolina State University (Raleigh)
7. University of Wisconsin (Madison)
8. State University of New York at Binghamton
9. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
10. University of Georgia (Athens)

The Princeton Review "Top 10 Best Value Private Colleges for 2013" are:
1. Swarthmore College (Swarthmore PA)
2. Harvard College (Cambridge MA)
3. Williams College (Williamstown MA)
4. Princeton University (Princeton NJ)
5. Pomona College (Claremont CA)
6. Yale University (New Haven CT)
7. Rice University (Houston TX)
8. Hamilton College (Clinton NY)
9. Claremont McKenna College (Claremont CA)
10. Grinnell College (Grinnell IA)

Said Robert Franek, Princeton Review's Senior VP/Publisher and lead author, The Best Value Colleges, "We commend these colleges for their stellar academics and their exceptional affordability as evidenced by their generous financial aid awards or their comparatively low sticker prices—or both." Among the Princeton Review's "2013 Top 10 Public Best Value Colleges," the average cost of attendance for in-state students is about $8,300 (after deducting the average grants awarded to students with need). Among the Company's "2013 Top 10 Private Best Value Colleges," the average cost of attendance is about $17,600 (after deducting the average grants to students with need).

The Best Value Colleges profiles provide information on each school's application requirements, admission data (acceptance rates and average SAT/ACT scores of enrolled freshmen), costs, financial aid, graduation rates, and graduates' loan debt. The book also has profiles of 10 tuition-free colleges. The book is one of 150 Princeton Review titles published by Random House. Others include The Best 377 Colleges, widely-known for its college rankings in 62 categories (http://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings.aspx), and Paying For College Without Going Broke, the only financial aid guide with line-by-line guidance for submitting the major aid application forms for the upcoming school year.

The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University

About The Princeton Review

Founded in 1981, The Princeton Review (www.PrincetonReview.com) is a privately held education services company headquartered in Framingham, MA. The Company has long been a leader in helping students achieve their education and career goals through its test preparation services, tutoring and admissions resources, online courses, and more than 150 print and digital books published by Random House, Inc. The Princeton Review delivers its programs via a network of more than 5,000 teachers and tutors in the U.S.A., Canada, and international franchises. The Company also partners with schools and guidance counselors worldwide to provide students with college readiness, test preparation and career planning services.

About USA TODAY

USA TODAY is a multi-platform news and information media company. Founded in 1982, USA TODAY's mission is to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation. Through its unique visual storytelling, USA TODAY delivers high-quality and engaging content across print, digital, social and video platforms. An innovator of news and information, USA TODAY reflects the pulse of the nation and serves as the host of the American conversation -- today, tomorrow and for decades to follow. USA TODAY, the nation's number one newspaper in print circulation with an average of nearly 1.8 million daily, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper website launched in 1995, reach a combined 6.6 million readers daily. USA TODAY is a leader in mobile applications with more than 16 million downloads on mobile devices. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).

SOURCE
The Princeton Review

WEBSITES
http://www.princetonreview.com/best-value-colleges.aspx
http://bestvaluecolleges.usatoday.com

 
 
# # #

CONTACTS
The Princeton Review: / Jeanne Krier, 212- 539-1350, or Kristen O'Toole, 888-347-7737 ext 1405, kotoole@review.com
USA TODAY / Heidi Zimmerman, 703-854-5304, hzimmerman@usatoday.com

REPORTER RESOURCES
The Princeton Review's "Best Value Colleges for 2013" - Criteria
- List - Alpha by State / City / School
- List - Alpha by School
- Project History
Criteria

The Princeton Review chose the 150 schools on its website list and in its book, The Best Value Colleges: 2013 Edition, based on data the Company gathered from institutional and student opinion surveys it conducted from Fall 2011 through Fall 2012. The surveys were conducted at 650 colleges and universities the company considers the nation's academically best undergraduate institutions. (Those 650 schools were chosen out of about 2,000 at which The Princeton Review annually gathers institutional data.) Broadly speaking, the selection process took into account a wide range of data that examined more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, cost of attendance, and financial aid.

Academic factors included the quality of students the schools attract as measured by admissions credentials (e.g., average SAT / ACT score ranges and average high school GPA of enrolled freshmen) as well as by how students attending the schools rated their academic experiences and their professors on the student opinion surveys.

Cost of attendance factors included tuition, room and board, and required fees.

Financial aid factors included the average gift aid (grants and scholarships, or free money) awarded to students, the percentage of graduating students who took out loans to pay for school, and the average debt of those students. Also included was survey data on how satisfied students were with the financial aid packages they received.

List - Alpha by State / City / School
The Princeton Review's "Best Value Colleges for 2013" 

Colleges in italics (25) were not on the list in 2012.

ARKANSAS
Fayetteville / University of Arkansas-Fayetteville

CALIFORNIA 
Berkeley / University of California – Berkeley
Claremont / Claremont McKenna (#9 Best Value Private College)
Claremont / Harvey Mudd College
Claremont / Pitzer College
Claremont / Pomona College (#5 Best Value Private College)
Claremont / Scripps College 
Davis / University of California – Davis
Irvine / University of California – Irvine
La Jolla / University of California – San Diego 
Long Beach / California State University – Long Beach
Los Angeles / Occidental College
Los Angeles / University of California – Los Angeles (#5 Best Value Public College)
Pasadena / California Institute of Technology 
Redlands / University of Redlands
Riverside / University of California – Riverside
Santa Barbara / University of California – Santa Barbara
Santa Cruz / University of California – Santa Cruz
Santa Paula / Thomas Aquinas College
Stanford / Stanford University 

COLORADO
Boulder / University of Colorado – Boulder
Colorado Springs / Colorado College

CONNECTICUT
Hartford / Trinity College
Middletown / Wesleyan University 
New Haven / Yale University (#6 Best Value Private College)
New London / Connecticut College

DELAWARE
Newark / University of Delaware

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Washington DC / Georgetown University

FLORIDA
Gainesville / University of Florida 
Jacksonville / University of North Florida
Orlando / University of Central Florida
Sarasota / New College of Florida (#3 Best Value Public College)
Tallahassee / Florida State University

GEORGIA
Athens / University of Georgia (#10 Best Value Public College)
Atlanta / Emory University
Atlanta / Georgia Institute of Technology

ILLINOIS
Chicago / University of Chicago
Evanston / Northwestern University
Urbana / University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

INDIANA
Bloomington / Indiana University
Crawfordsville / Wabash College
Greencastle / DePauw University
South Bend / University of Notre Dame
West Lafayette / Purdue University 

IOWA
Ames / Iowa State University
Grinnell / Grinnell College (#10 Best Value Private College)

LOUISIANA
Baton Rouge / Louisiana State University

MAINE
Bar Harbor / College of the Atlantic
Brunswick / Bowdoin College
Lewiston / Bates College
Waterville / Colby College

MARYLAND
Baltimore / Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore / University of Maryland – Baltimore County
College Park / University of Maryland
St. Mary's City / St. Mary's College of Maryland

MASSACHUSETTS
Amherst  / Amherst College
Amherst / University of Massachusetts
Boston / Boston College
Cambridge / Harvard College (#2 Best Value Private College)
Cambridge / Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Medford / Tufts University
Needham / Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Northampton / Smith College
South Hadley / Mount Holyoke College
Waltham / Brandeis University
Wellesley / Wellesley College 
Williamstown / Williams College (#3 Best Value Private College)
Worcester / College of the Holy Cross
Worcester / Worcester State University

MICHIGAN
Ann Arbor / University of Michigan (#9 Best Value Public College)

MINNESOTA
Minneapolis / University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
Northfield / Carleton College
Northfield / St. Olaf College
St. Paul / Macalester College

MISSOURI 
Kansas City / University of Missouri – Kansas City
Kirksville / Truman State University
Rolla / Missouri University of Science and Technology
St. Louis / Washington University 

NEBRASKA
Lincoln / University of Nebraska

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Hanover / Dartmouth College

NEW JERSEY
Ewing / The College of New Jersey 
Princeton / Princeton University (#4 Best Value Private College)

NEW YORK
Annandale-on-Hudson / Bard College
Binghamton – State University of New York at Binghamton (#8 Best Value Public College)
Brooklyn / City University of New York – Brooklyn College
Buffalo / State University of New York – University at Buffalo
Clinton / Hamilton College (#8 Best Value Private College)
Geneseo / State University of New York at Geneseo
Hamilton / Colgate University
Ithaca / Cornell University
New York / Barnard College
New York / City University of New York – City College 
New York / City University of New York – Hunter College 
New York / Columbia University
Oswego / State University of New York at Oswego
Poughkeepsie / Vassar College
Saratoga Springs  / Skidmore College
Purchase / State University of New York – Purchase College
Stony Brook / State University of New York – Stony Brook University
Syracuse / State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry

NORTH CAROLINA
Asheville / University of North Carolina at Asheville
Chapel Hill / University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (#2 Best Value Public College)
Davidson / Davidson College
Durham / Duke University
Raleigh / North Carolina State University (#6 Best Value Public College)
Wilmington / University of North Carolina – Wilmington
Winston Salem / Wake Forest University

OHIO
Gambier / Kenyon College
Oberlin / Oberlin College 

OKLAHOMA
Norman / University of Oklahoma
Stillwater / Oklahoma State University

OREGON
Portland / Reed College

PENNSYLVANIA
Bryn Mawr / Bryn Mawr College
Easton / Lafayette College
Gettysburg / Gettysburg College
Haverford / Haverford College
Lewisburg / Bucknell University
Philadelphia / University of Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh / University of Pittsburgh
Swarthmore / Swarthmore College (#1 Best Value Private College) 

RHODE ISLAND
Providence / Brown University

SOUTH CAROLINA
Charleston / College of Charleston
Clemson / Clemson University
Columbia / University of South Carolina

TENNESSEE
Knoxville / University of Tennessee – Knoxville
Martin / University of Tennessee at Martin
Memphis / Rhodes College
Nashville / Vanderbilt University
Sewanee / The University of the South

TEXAS
Austin / University of Texas at Austin 
College Station / Texas A&M University
Dallas / University of Texas at Dallas
Houston / Rice University (#7 Best Value Private College)
Houston / University of Houston

UTAH
Cedar City / Southern Utah University

VERMONT
Middlebury / Middlebury College

VIRGINIA
Blacksburg / Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Charlottesville / University of Virginia (#1 Best Value Public College)
Fairfax / George Mason University
Farmville / Longwood University
Harrisonburg / James Madison University
Newport News / Christopher Newport University
Radford / Radford University
Richmond / University of Richmond
Williamsburg / College of William & Mary (#4 Best Value Public College)

WASHINGTON
Pullman / Washington State University
Seattle / University of Washington 
Walla Walla / Whitman College

WISCONSIN
Eau Claire / University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire
Madison / University of Wisconsin – Madison (#7 Best Value Public College)
__________________________________________________________________________

List Alpha by School
The Princeton Review's "Best Value Colleges for 2013"

Colleges in italics (25) were not on the list in 2012.

Amherst College – Amherst MA
Bard College – Annandale-on-Hudson NY
Barnard College  – New York NY
Bates College – Lewiston ME
Boston College – Chestnut Hill MA
Bowdoin College – Brunswick ME
Brandeis University – Waltham MA
Brown University – Providence RI
Bryn Mawr College – Bryn Mawr PA
Bucknell University – Lewisburg PA
California Institute of Technology– Pasadena CA
California State University – Long Beach CA
Carleton College – Northfield MN
Christopher Newport University – Newport News VA
City University of New York – Brooklyn College – New York NY
City University of New York – City College – New York NY
City University of New York – Hunter College – New York NY
Claremont McKenna College – Claremont CA (#9 Best Value Private College)
Clemson University  – Clemson SC
Colby College – Waterville ME
Colgate University  – Hamilton NY
College of Charleston  – Charleston SC
College of the Atlantic – Bar Harbor ME
College of New Jersey – Ewing NJ
College of the Holy Cross – Worcester MA
College of William & Mary– Williamsburg VA (#4 Best Value Public College)
Colorado College – Colorado Springs CO
Columbia University – New York NY
Connecticut College – New London CT
Cornell University – Ithaca NY
Dartmouth College – Hanover NH
Davidson College – Davidson NC
DePauw University – Greencastle IN
Duke University – Durham NC
Emory University  – Atlanta GA
Florida State University  – Tallahassee FL
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering – Needham MA
George Mason University – Fairfax VA
Georgetown University – Washington DC
Georgia Institute of Technology – Atlanta GA
Gettysburg College – Gettysburg PA
Grinnell College – Grinnell IA (#10 Best Value Private College)
Hamilton College – Clinton NY (#8 Best Value Private College)
Harvard College– Cambridge MA (#2 Best Value Private College)
Harvey Mudd College – Claremont CA
Haverford College – Haverford PA
Indiana University – Bloomington IN
Iowa State University – Ames IA
James Madison University – Harrisonburg VA
Johns Hopkins University – Baltimore MD
Kenyon College – Gambier OH
Lafayette College – Easton PA
Longwood University – Farmville VA
Louisiana State University – Baton Route LA
Macalester College – St. Paul MN
Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Cambridge MA
Middlebury College – Middlebury VT
Missouri University of Science and Technology – Rolla MO
Mount Holyoke College – South Hadley MA
New College of Florida – Sarasota FL (#3 Best Value Public College) 
North Carolina State University – Raleigh NC (#6 Best Value Public College)
Northwestern University – Evanston IL
Oberlin College – Oberlin OH
Occidental College – Los Angeles CA
Oklahoma State University – Stillwater OK
Pitzer College – Claremont CA
Pomona College – Claremont CA (#5 Best Value Private College)
Princeton University – Princeton NJ  (#4 Best Value Private College)
Purdue University – West Lafayette IN
Radford University – Radford VA
Reed College – Portland OR
Rhodes College – Memphis TN
Rice University– Houston TX (#7 Best Value Private College)
Scripps College  – Claremont CA
Sewanee - The University of the South – Sewanee TN
Skidmore College – Saratoga Springs NY
Smith College – Northampton MA
Southern Utah University – Cedar City
St. Mary's College of Maryland – St. Mary's City MD
St. Olaf College – Northfield MN
Stanford University – Stanford CA
State University of New York at Geneseo – Geneseo NY
State University of New York – Binghamton NY (#8 Best Value Public College)
State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry – Syracuse NY
State University of New York – Oswego NY
State University of New York – Purchase College – Purchase NY
State University of New York – Stony Brook University – Stony Brook NY
State University of New York – University at Buffalo – Buffalo NY
Swarthmore College – Swarthmore PA (#1 Best Value Private College)
Texas A&M University – College Station TX
Thomas Aquinas College – Santa Paula CA
Trinity College  - Hartford CT
Truman State University – Kirksville MO
Tufts University – Medford MA
University of Arkansas – Fayetteville AR
University of California – Berkeley CA
University of California – Davis CA
University of California – Irvine CA
University of California – Los Angeles CA (#5 Best Value Public College)
University of California – Riverside CA
University of California – San Diego CA
University of California – Santa Barbara CA
University of California – Santa Cruz CA
University of Central Florida – Orlando FL
University of Chicago – Chicago IL
University of Colorado – Boulder CO
University of Delaware – Newark DE
University of Florida – Gainesville FL
University of Georgia – Athens GA (#10 Best Value Public College)
University of Houston – Houston TX
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – Urbana IL
University of Maryland, Baltimore County – Baltimore MD
University of Maryland, College Park – College Park MD
University of Massachusetts – Amherst MA
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor MI (#9 Best Value Public College)
University of Minnesota –Twin Cities – Minneapolis MN
University of Missouri – Kansas City MO
University of Nebraska – Lincoln NE
University of North Carolina at Asheville  – Asheville NC
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Chapel Hill NC (#2 Best Value Public College)
University of North Carolina – Wilmington NC
University of North Florida – Jacksonville FL
University of Notre Dame – South Bend IN
University of Oklahoma – Norman OK
University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia PA
University of Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh PA
University of Redlands – Redlands CA
University of Richmond – Richmond VA
University of South Carolina – Columbia SC
University of Tennessee at Martin – Martin TN
University of Tennessee – Knoxville TN
University of Texas at Austin – Austin TX
University of Texas at Dallas – Dallas TX
University of Virginia – Charlottesville VA (#1 Best Value Public College)
University of Washington – Seattle WA
University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire WI
University of Wisconsin-Madison – Madison WI (#7 Best Value Public College)
Vanderbilt University – Nashville TN
Vassar College – Poughkeepsie NY
Virginia Polytechnic Institute – Blacksburg VA
Wabash College – Crawfordsville IN
Wake Forest University – Winston Salem NC
Washington State University – Pullman WA
Washington University– St. Louis MO
Wellesley College – Wellesley MA
Wesleyan University – Middletown CT
Whitman College – Walla Walla WA
Williams College – Williamstown MA (#3 Best Value Private College)
Worcester State University – Worcester MA
Yale University – New Haven CT (#6 Best Value Private College)

- Project History

What began in 2003 as a "Best Academic Bang For Your Buck" ranking list (of top 20 schools) in The Princeton Review’s annual Best 351 Colleges guidebook evolved the following year to two ranking categories, a "Best Bargains – Publics"and a "Best Bargains – Privates" list in the subsequent edition, Best 357 Colleges. In 2005, responding to growing concerns students and parents had (and still have) about paying for college, The Princeton Review expanded the project to a book titled America’s Best Value Colleges. The book profiled about 80 schools selected as outstanding for their academics and affordability. Subsequent editions of the book were published annually through 2007. In 2008, the Company redesigned and further expanded the project to identify a far larger number of “best value” schools.

In 2009, The Princeton Review teamed up with USA TODAY as its publishing partner and made the project an exclusive online resource. Every year since, the annual “Best Value Colleges” list and school information has been available both on The Princeton Review’s website and at a dedicated area on USATODAY.com – http://bestvaluecolleges.usatoday.com -- where users can access detailed information about the schools in an interactive database. In 2012, The Princeton Review expanded the project yet again, reinstituting an annual companion book as a print resource while maintaining the online resources. The Best Value Colleges: The 150 Best-Buy Schools and What It Takes to Get In (Random House / Princeton Review Books) 2012 Edition published February 7, 2012, and the 2013 Edition published on February 5, 2013.