THE PRINCETON REVIEW AND USA TODAY PRESENT
"THE PRINCETON REVIEW'S BEST VALUE COLLEGES FOR 2012"

U-North Carolina at Chapel Hill: #1 "Best Value Public College"
Williams College: #1 "Best Value Private College"

NEW YORK, February 7, 2012 / — The Princeton Review (www.PrincetonReview.com) today published its annual list of "Best Value Colleges" – a project the education services company launched in 2004 that identifies America's top undergraduate schools offering excellent academics, generous financial aid, and/or relatively low cost of attendance.

The 2012 list, along with detailed profiles of the schools, appears in three resources all released today. They include a new Princeton Review book, The Best Value Colleges: 2012 Edition (Random House/Princeton Review, $21.99), and dedicated areas on the Company's free website http://www.princetonreview.com/best-value-colleges.aspx, and on USATODAY.com. USA TODAY's coverage can be found at http://bestvaluecolleges.usatoday.com. Users can click on an exclusive interactive map and access a database with stats and facts about each "Best Value" college plus a report on why the Princeton Review named it a "Best Value." The Princeton Review has teamed up with USA TODAY to present this resource online since 2009.

The Princeton Review 2012 Best Value Colleges list salutes 150 undergraduate schools: 75 public and 75 private institutions. In each group, the Princeton Review identifies the top 10 ranking colleges. The #1 "Best Value Public College" is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill while Williams College in Williamstown MA is the #1 "Best Value Private College." (The top 10 lists follow.) The remaining 65 schools in each group are reported in alphabetical order, unranked.

The Princeton Review "Top 10 Best Value Public Colleges for 2012" are:
1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill NC)
2. University of Virginia (Charlottesville VA)
3. New College of Florida (Sarasota FL)
4. State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton NY)
5. University of Wisconsin (Madison WI)
6. College of William and Mary (Williamsburg VA)
7. University of Florida (Gainesville FL)
8. University of Georgia (Athens GA)
9. University of Washington (Seattle)
10. University of Texas at Austin

The Princeton Review "Top 10 Best Value Private Colleges for 2012" are:
1. Williams College (Williamstown MA)
2. Swarthmore College (Swarthmore PA)
3. Princeton University (Princeton NJ)
4. Harvard College (Cambridge MA)
5. Rice University (Houston TX)
6. Pomona College (Claremont CA)
7. Washington University (St. Louis MO)
8. Yale University (New Haven CT)
9. California Institute of Technology (Pasadena CA)
10. Hamilton College (Clinton NY)

Overall, the 2012 Best Value Colleges list features 150 schools in 37 states and the District of Columbia, with California having the most schools represented: 19. Fifty-six colleges are new to the list. The Princeton Review also profiles 10 tuition-free schools in its book as part of its Best Value Colleges project this year.

Said Robert Franek, Princeton Review's Senior VP/Publisher and lead author of The Best Value Colleges book, "We recommend these extraordinary colleges as our 'best buys' for 2012 and salute them for all they are doing to keep costs down and / or offer generous aid to applicants with financial need." Franek added, "We appreciate the deep concerns families have about affording college: among the 12,000 teen and parent respondents to our 2011 'College Hopes & Worries Survey,' 86% reported financial aid would be 'very necessary' for them to pay for college."

The Princeton Review chose its "Best Value" schools based on analyses of data the company collected from an initial list of 650 institutions it identified as having excellent academics. More than 30 data points were assessed across three primary areas: academics, cost of attendance, and financial aid. Cost and financial aid data came from the Company's Fall 2011 surveys of school administrators. Data on academics came from its Fall 2010 through Fall 2011 surveys of school administrators. The Princeton Review also factored in data from surveys of students attending the schools who shared assessments of their professors and their satisfaction with their financial aid awards.

The The Best Value Colleges is subtitled "The 150 Best Buy Schools and What It Takes to Get In." Its school profiles report information on application requirements, average SAT and ACT score ranges of enrolled freshmen, curriculum, campus culture and financial aid. They also include Princeton Review's exclusive school ratings (scores from 60 to 99) for Academics, Financial Aid, Admissions, and Quality of Campus Life. The profiles' "Bang for Your Buck" and "Bottom Line" sections discuss the school's financial aid patterns programs and offer Princeton Review's advice for applicants. To help students winnow their college search, the book also has a section with over 150 short lists of schools in the book by various interests and amenities. Among them: "Schools with the largest campuses," "Schools with great business/finance programs," and "Schools with great grant programs for independent study."

The Princeton Review is also known for its annual college rankings in 62 categories (http://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings.aspx) it reports in its guidebook, The Best 376 Colleges which is published in August.

The Best Value Colleges is one of nearly 150 Princeton Review books published by Random House. Among them is Paying For College Without Going Broke, the only annual guidebook to financial aid with line-by-line instruction for completing the FAFSA and CSS PROFILE aid forms.

The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University and it is not a magazine.

About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review (Nasdaq: REVU) has been a pioneer and leader in helping students achieve their higher education goals for 30 years through college and graduate school test preparation and private tutoring. With more than 165 print and digital publications and a free website, www.PrincetonReview.com, the company provides students and their parents with the resources to research, apply to, prepare for, and learn how to pay for higher education. The Princeton Review partners with schools and guidance counselors throughout the U.S. to assist in college readiness, test preparation and career planning services, helping more students pursue postsecondary education. The company also owns and operates Penn Foster Education Group, a global leader in online education, providing career-focused degree and vocational programs in the fields of allied health, business, technology, education, and select trades through the Penn Foster High School and Penn Foster Career School (www.pennfoster.edu). For more information, visit www.PrincetonReview.com.

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. Today, through its newspaper, website and mobile platforms, USA TODAY connects readers and engages the national conversation. USA TODAY, the nation's number one newspaper in print circulation with an average of more than 1.8 million daily, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper website launched in 1995, reach a combined 5.4 million readers daily. USA TODAY is a leader in mobile applications with more than ten million downloads on mobile devices. The USA TODAY brand also includes USA TODAY Education and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).
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MEDIA CONTACTS
The Princeton Review: Joseph Iovino, Director of Public Relations, 888-865-7737 ext. 5678, jiovino@review.com
Random House / Princeton Review Books: Jeanne Krier, Publicist, 212-539-1350

REPORTER RESOURCES
The Princeton Review's "Best Value Colleges for 2012" List
- Criteria
- List - Alpha by State / City / School
- List - Alpha by School
Criteria

The Princeton Review chose the 150 schools on its Best Value Colleges for 2012 list based on institutional data and student opinion surveys collected from fall 2010 through fall 2011 at 650 colleges and universities the company regards as the nation's academically best undergraduate institutions. Broadly speaking, the selection process took into account a wide range of data that included 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 as well as how students rated their academic experiences.
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
Colleges in italics (56) were not on the list in 2011.

CALIFORNIA
Berkeley / University of California – Berkeley
Claremont / Claremont McKenna
Claremont / Harvey Mudd College
Claremont / Pomona College (#6 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
Pasadena / California Institute of Technology (#9 Best Value Private College)
Redlands / University of Redlands
Riverside / University of California – Riverside
San Luis Obispo / California Polytechnic State University
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
Middletown / Wesleyan University
New Haven / Yale University (#8 Best Value Private College)

DELAWARE
Newark / University of Delaware

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Washington DC / Georgetown University

FLORIDA
Gainesville / University of Florida (#7 Best Value Public College)
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 (#8 Best Value Public College)
Atlanta / Emory University
Atlanta / Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta – Decatur / Agnes Scott College
Macon / Wesleyan College

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

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

IOWA
Ames / Iowa State University
Grinnell / Grinnell College
Mount Vernon / Cornell College

KANSAS
Lawrence / University of Kansas
Manhattan / Kansas State University

KENTUCKY
Danville / Centre College

LOUISIANA
Shreveport / Centenary College of Louisiana

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

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Amherst / Amherst College
Boston / University of Massachusetts - Boston
Cambridge / Harvard College (#4 Best Value Private College)
Cambridge / Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Chestnut Hill / Boston College
Needham / Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
South Hadley / Mount Holyoke College
Waltham / Brandeis University
Wellesley / Wellesley College
Williamstown / Williams College (#1 Best Value Private College)
Worcester / College of the Holy Cross

MICHIGAN
Ann Arbor / University of Michigan
Hillsdale / Hillsdale College

MINNESOTA
Crookston / University of Minnesota – Crookston
Minneapolis / University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
Northfield / Carleton 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 (#7 Best Value Private College)

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Hanover / Dartmouth College

NEW JERSEY
Ewing / The College of New Jersey
Princeton / Princeton University (#3 Best Value Private College)

NEW MEXICO
Socorro / New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology

NEW YORK
Binghamton – State University of New York -Binghamton Univ. (#4 Best Value Public College)
Brooklyn / City University of New York – Brooklyn College
Buffalo / State University of New York - University at Buffalo
Clinton / Hamilton College (#10 Best Value Private College)
Geneseo / State University of New York at Geneseo
Hamilton / Colgate University
Ithaca / Cornell University
New Paltz / State University of New York at New Paltz
New York / Barnard 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
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
Boone / Appalachian State University
Chapel Hill / University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (#1 Best Value Public College)
Davidson / Davidson College
Durham / Duke University
Raleigh / North Carolina State University
Wilmington / University of North Carolina – Wilmington
Winston Salem / Wake Forest University

OHIO
Columbus / Ohio State University

OKLAHOMA
Norman / University of Oklahoma

OREGON
Portland / Reed College

PENNSYLVANIA
Bradford / University of Pittsburgh at Bradford
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 (#2 Best Value Private College)

RHODE ISLAND
Providence / Brown University

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

SOUTH DAKOTA
Vermillion / University of South Dakota

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

TEXAS
Austin / University of Texas at Austin (#10 Best Value Public College)
Houston / Rice University (#5 Best Value Private College)
Houston / University of Houston

UTAH
Cedar City / Southern Utah University
Logan / Utah State University

VERMONT
Middlebury / Middlebury College

VIRGINIA
Blacksburg / Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Charlottesville / University of Virginia (#2 Best Value Public College)
Farmville / Longwood University
Fredericksburg / University of Mary Washington
Harrisonburg / James Madison University
Lynchburg / Randolph College
Newport News / Christopher Newport University
Richmond / University of Richmond
Williamsburg / College of William and Mary (#6 Best Value Public College)

WASHINGTON
Olympia / Evergreen State College
Seattle / University of Washington (#9 Best Value Public College)
Walla Walla / Whitman College

WISCONSIN
Beloit / Beloit College
Eau Claire / University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire
Madison / University of Wisconsin – Madison (#5 Best Value Public College)

_______________________________________

List - Alpha by School

Colleges in italics (56) were not on the list in 2011.

Agnes Scott College – Atlanta/Decatur GA
Amherst College – Amherst MA
Appalachian State University – Boone NC
Barnard College – New York NY
Bates College – Lewiston ME
Beloit College – Beloit WI
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 (#9 Best Value Private College) – Pasadena
California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo
California State University – Long Beach
Carleton College – Northfield MN
Centenary College of Louisiana – Shreveport LA
Centre College – Danville KY
Christopher Newport University – Newport News VA
City University of New York – Brooklyn College – New York NY
City University of New York – Hunter College – New York NY
Claremont McKenna College – Claremont CA
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 and Mary (#6 Best Value Public College) – Williamsburg VA
Colorado College – Colorado Springs CO
Columbia University – New York NY
Cornell College – Mount Vernon IA
Cornell University – Ithaca NY
Dartmouth College – Hanover NH
Davidson College – Davidson NC
DePauw University – Greencastle IN
Duke University – Durham NC
Emory University – Atlanta GA
Evergreen State College – Olympia WA
Florida State University – Tallahassee
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering – Needham MA
Georgetown University – Washington DC
Georgia Institute of Technology – Atlanta
Gettysburg College – Gettysburg PA
Grinnell College – Grinnell IA
Hamilton College (#10 Best Value Private College) – Clinton NY
Hanover College – Hanover IN
Harvard College (#4 Best Value Private College) – Cambridge MA
Harvey Mudd College – Claremont CA
Haverford College – Haverford PA
Hillsdale College – Hillsdale MI
Indiana University – Bloomington
Iowa State University – Ames
James Madison University – Harrisonburg VA
Johns Hopkins University – Baltimore MD
Kansas State University – Manhattan
Lafayette College – Easton PA
Longwood University – Farmville VA
Macalester College – St. Paul MN
Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Cambridge
Middlebury College – Middlebury VT
Missouri College of Science and Technology – Rolla
Mount Holyoke College – South Hadley MA
New College of Florida (#3 Best Value Public College) – Sarasota
New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology – Socorro
North Carolina State University – Raleigh
Northwestern University – Evanston IL
Occidental College – Los Angeles CA
Ohio State University – Columbus
Pomona College (#6 Best Value Private College) – Claremont CA
Princeton University (#3 Best Value Private College) – Princeton NJ
Purdue University – West Lafayette IN
Randolph College – Lynchburg VA
Reed College – Portland OR
Rice University (#5 Best Value Private College) – Houston TX
Scripps College – Claremont CA
Sewanee - The University of the South – Sewanee TN
Southern Utah University – Cedar City
St. Mary's College of Maryland – St. Mary's City MD
Stanford University – Stanford CA
State University of New York at Geneseo – Geneseo
State University of New York-Binghamton Univ. (#4 Best Value Public College) – Binghamton
State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry - Syracuse
State University of New York – New Paltz
State University of New York – Oswego
State University of New York – Stony Brook University – Stony Brook
State University of New York – University at Buffalo - Buffalo
Swarthmore College (#2 Best Value Private College) – Swarthmore PA
Thomas Aquinas College – Santa Paula CA
Truman State University – Kirksville MO
University of California – Berkeley
University of California – Davis
University of California – Irvine
University of California – Los Angeles
University of California – Riverside
University of California – San Diego
University of California – Santa Barbara
University of California – Santa Cruz
University of Central Florida – Orlando
University of Chicago – Chicago IL
University of Colorado – Boulder
University of Delaware – Newark
University of Florida (#7 Best Value Public College) – Gainesville
University of Georgia (#8 Best Value Public College) – Athens
University of Houston – Houston TX
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – Urbana
University of Kansas – Lawrence
University of Mary Washington – Fredericksburg VA
University of Maryland, College Park – College Park
University of Massachusetts – Boston
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
University of Minnesota –Twin Cities – Minneapolis
University of Minnesota – Crookston
University of Missouri – Kansas City
University of North Carolina at Asheville – Asheville
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (#1 Best Value Public College) – Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina – Wilmington
University of North Florida – Jacksonville
University of Notre Dame – South Bend IN
University of Oklahoma – Norman
University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia
University of Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh PA
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford – Bradford PA
University of Redlands – Redlands (CA)
University of Richmond – Richmond VA
University of South Carolina – Columbia
University of South Dakota – Vermillion
University of Tennessee at Martin
University of Tennessee – Knoxville
University of Texas at Austin (#10 Best Value Public College) – Austin
University of Virginia (#2 Best Value Public College) – Charlottesville
University of Washington (#9 Best Value Public College) – Seattle
University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire
University of Wisconsin-Madison (#5 Best Value Public College) – Madison
Utah State University – Logan
Vanderbilt University – Nashville TN
Vassar College – Poughkeepsie NY
Virginia Polytechnic Institute – Blacksburg
Wabash College – Crawfordsville IN
Wake Forest University – Winston Salem NC
Washington University (#7 Best Value Private College) – St. Louis MO
Wellesley College – Wellesley MA
Wesleyan College – Macon GA
Wesleyan University – Middletown CT
Wheaton College – Wheaton IL
Whitman College – Walla Walla WA
Williams College (#1 Best Value Private College) – Williamstown MA
Wofford College – Spartanburg SC
Yale University (#8 Best Value Private College) – New Haven CT