THE PRINCETON REVIEW GIVES 623 COLLEGES FINANCIAL AID RATINGS
IN NEW 2010 EDITIONS OF ITS ANNUAL COLLEGE GUIDES
AND WEBSITE PROFILES OF SCHOOLS
• Ratings Based on Surveys of Colleges on Aid Awards and of Students Receiving Aid
• Financial Aid Honor Roll Salutes 13 Colleges Receiving Highest Rating Score of 99
• Lists of 100 "Best Value Colleges" and Top 20 Colleges for "Great Financial Aid" Also in New Edition of "Best 371 Colleges" Guidebook
NEW YORK, July 27, 2009, Noon EDT — The Princeton Review – an education services company that helps students choose and get in to colleges – this year collected a wealth of data to help applicants and parents find the highly-coveted financial aid that a majority of them will need to pay for college.
Among the results of its data gathering projects that The Princeton Review is reporting today are Financial Aid Ratings that the Company has tallied for 623 colleges –13 of which received the highest possible score of 99 (list follows). The Princeton Review has also published a list of 100 "Best Value Colleges," and ranking lists naming the top 20 colleges for "Great Financial Aid."
The Financial Aid ratings – scores on a scale of 60 to 99 – appear in the website profiles of the schools now posted at www.princetonreview.com. They also appear in the profiles of those schools in the 2010 editions of three Princeton Review books: "The Best 371 Colleges" (on sale July 28, $22.99), "The Best Northeastern Colleges" (on sale August 4, $16.99), and "Complete Book of Colleges" (on sale August 4, $26.99), all published by Random House.
The Princeton Review tallied the ratings based on data from its surveys of administrators at hundreds of schools in 2008-09 and its surveys of student aid recipients attending the schools. School data included the percentage of their students determined to have need who received aid, the percentage of need met, and the percentage of students whose aid was fully met. The rating also factored in data from The Princeton Review's surveys of students attending the schools about their satisfaction with their aid awards.
The Princeton Review's "2010 Financial Aid Rating Honor Roll"
This list, published in "The Best 371 Colleges," salutes 13 institutions that received the highest possible rating score of 99. It includes:
(in alphabetical order):
American Jewish University (Bel Air CA)
Beloit College (Beloit, WI)
Bowdoin College (Brunswick ME)
California Institute of Technology (Pasadena CA)
Claremont McKenna College (Claremont CA)
Gettysburg College (Gettysburg PA)
Harvard College (Cambridge MA)
Lake Forest College (Lake Forest IL)
Swarthmore College (Swarthmore PA)
Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula CA)
Wabash College (Crawfordsville IN)
Washington University in St. Louis (MO)
Williams College (Williamstown MA)
Said Robert Franek, V.P. / Publisher, The Princeton Review, "The cost of college at most institutions is sobering, and the need for financial aid greater than ever in these tough economic times. But we encourage applicants never to cross a school off their list because of its sticker price, and always to get information about the schools' financial aid offerings, and their award prospects which can be truly compelling."
Franek noted the growing concerns families have about college costs. Among almost 16,000 college applicants and parents of applicants The Princeton Review surveyed this year for its annual "College Hopes & Worries Survey," 67% of respondents said that the economic downturn had affected their college decisions and 85% said financial aid will be "very necessary." In other findings, the respondents' biggest worry about their college applications was that they (or their child) "would be accepted at their first choice college, but not have sufficient funds to attend the school."
Other financial aid resources in "The Best 371 Colleges" include:
• A list of top 20 ranking schools for "Great Financial Aid"
This list reveals schools in the book at which students surveyed reported the highest levels of satisfaction with their aid award packages. Swarthmore College is #1 on that list, and one of 13 schools on the "Financial Aid Rating Honor Roll." The book also has a corollary bottom 20 list titled "Students Most Dissatisfied With Their Financial Aid."
• A list of "100 Best Value Colleges for 2009"
This is a list The Princeton Review reported in January 2009 in conjunction with USA TODAY, and will update in January 2010. The list identifies 50 public and 50 private colleges that the Company named as best values based on more than 30 data points covering academics, cost, and financial aid. It is also posted at www.bestvaluecolleges.usatoday.com and on www.princetonreview.com.
Students and parents will also find useful The Princeton Review's guide to getting the most possible financial aid, "Paying for College Without Going Broke." Authored by Kalman Chany and with a foreword by Bill Clinton, it is annually updated and published each October.
About The Princeton Review college ratings and college rankings
The Princeton Review college ratings are scores of 60 to 99 in eight categories that it reports in some college profiles on its website and in its college guides. The ratings are based primarily on institutional data. In addition to the Financial Aid Rating, other rating categories include: Green, Fire Safety (for which The Princeton Review also reports Honor Rolls of schools receiving its highest possible score of 99), and Admissions Selectivity. Schools from which The Princeton Review does not receive sufficient data in a category to tally a rating receive a score of 60* (sixty with an asterisk).
The Princeton Review college rankings are lists of schools in 62 categories (in rank order 1 to 20) based entirely on the Company's surveys of 122,000 students attending the schools in its book, "The Best 371 Colleges." The survey asks students to rate their own schools on dozens of topics and report on their campus experiences at them.
About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review (NASDAQ: REVU) has been a pioneer and leader in helping students achieve their higher education goals for more than 25 years through college and graduate school test preparation and tutoring. With more than 165 print and digital publications and a free website, www.princetonreview.com, the Company provides student and their parents with the resources to research, apply to, prepare for, and learn how to pay for higher education. The Princeton Review also 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 is headquartered in Framingham, MA with editorial offices in New York City and test-preparation locations across the country and abroad. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University and it is not a magazine.
Contact:
Harriet Brand, Director of Public Relations, The Princeton Review,
212-874-8282 Ext. 1091, harrietb@review.com or
Jeanne Krier, Publicist, Princeton Review Books, 212-539-1350, Jeanne@jeannekrier.com
Available for interviews from New York:
Robert Franek, VP / Publisher, The Princeton Review and author of "The Best 371 Colleges," or one of the book's senior editors can discuss: the Financial Aid Rating criteria, ratings of specific colleges, the aid offerings at schools on the Company's Financial Aid Honor Roll and Best Value Colleges lists.