The schools that made our "Best Value Colleges" list all have similar qualities—they're able to provide stellar academics with a modest price tag. Students who attend these universities don't feel as though they have to mortgage their future just to enroll.

Colleges were selected based upon institutional data and student opinion surveys collected from Fall 2010 through Fall 2011. Broadly speaking, the factors we weighed covered undergraduate academics, costs and financial aid. Additionally, we considered the percentage of graduating seniors who borrowed from any loan program and the average dollar amount of debt those students had at graduation.

Following are the breakdown of ratings:

Academic Rating

To create this rating, we combine students' opinions about the education they receive with a number of statistics (including admissions data) reported to us by each school. The admissions stats highlight how difficult it is to gain acceptance. The vast amount of student opinion data that we collect from current students tells us everything else. Are students known to pick up a book now and again? Can the professors teach, or do they manage to suck every crumb of life from the materials? Are professors accessible outside of class? Do students spend most of their class time in auditoriums with 500 strangers listening to a guy with a microphone, or in small classrooms with a dozen or so of their new best friends?

Financial Aid Rating

This rating is also based on a combination of school-reported data and student opinion. We ask schools about the amount of need-based aid they give students. We then ask students how happy they are with their award packages. Very few students, it seems, are ever totally elated about their financial aid packages and the service (or lack thereof) that offices of financial aid provide. Nevertheless, students at some schools are a lot happier than students at other schools.

Tuition GPA (or the Real Cost of College)

We start with the sticker price of each college's tuition, required fees and room and board, and subtract the average gift aid (scholarships and grants) awarded to students. We don't subtract work-study or student loans, since those are costs that students ultimately have to bear. Next, we take all of this data and stir it up in an algorithm based on the idea that bang for your buck means excellent academics, great financial aid and/or low tuition. Simply put, it means value.

We analyzed over 650 schools and chose 150 of those as the very best academic value. These schools demonstrate their value in one of two ways: either by offering a very affordable tuition sticker price right off the bat while also delivering a quality education, or by making a higher tuition cost affordable to anyone who is invited to attend. A school does the latter by distributing generous amounts of financial aid in the form of scholarships and grants, possibly combined, to a lesser degree, with work-study and loans. The schools we present here make measurable efforts to keep out-of-pocket costs reasonable and within reach while delivering an amazing college experience that's worth every penny.