These 18 MA Colleges Are Best Bang For Your Buck

At many colleges and universities, the deadline for admitted students to put down a deposit is right around the corner — some as early as Tuesday. With that in mind, Forbes has ranked its best value colleges in America for this year, and 18 colleges from Massachusetts made the list, including four in the top 20. Forbes isn't saying these schools are necessarily cheap, but that you take out far more than what you put in.

• Harvard (6th)
  • Location: Cambridge
  • Tuition: $45,278
• Amherst (10th)
  • Tuition:$50,562
• Williams (15th)
  • Location: Williamstown
  • Tuition: $50,070
• MIT (17th)
  • Location: Cambridge
  • Tuition: $46,704
• Wellesley (36th)
  • Tuition: $46,836
• Tufts (74th)
  • Location: Medford
  • Tuition: $50,604
• Boston College (102d)
  • Location: Chestnut Hill
  • Tuition: $49,324
• Babson (122d)
  • Location: Wellesley
  • Tuition: $46,784
• Smith (165th)
  • Location: Northampton
  • Tuition: $46,288
• Boston University (185th)
  • Tuition: $48,436
• Holy Cross (196th)
  • Location: Worcester
  • Tuition: $47,176
• Brandeis (220th)
  • Location: Waltham
  • Tuition: $49,598
• UMass-Amherst (230th)
  • Tuition: $14,171
• Bentley (263d)
  • Location: Waltham
  • Tuition: $44,085
• Mount Holyoke (268th)
  • Tuition: $43,886
• UMass-Lowell (271st)
  • Tuition: $13,427
• Northeastern (294th)
  • Location: Boston
  • Tuition: $45,530
• UMass-Boston (297th)
  • Tuition: $12,682

>>>Click here to see the full rankings.

The universities and colleges were evaluated based on net price, net debt, alumni earnings, timely graduation, school quality and accessibility for low-income students. The list evaluates institutions that offer four-year degrees. It doesn’t include private for-profit schools, such as the University of Phoenix or DeVry University.

California residents will be pretty happy with the results. Out the roughly 5,300 colleges and universities in the U.S., the Golden State has eight of the top 20 colleges and universities when it comes to best value, Forbes says. That includes three of the top five.

1. University of California, Los Angeles
2. University of California, Berkeley
3. Brigham Young University (Utah)
4. University of California, Irvine
5. University of Washington, Seattle

Forbes says the University of California, Los Angeles and University of California, Berkeley actually swapped places this year compared to their rankings last year, saying it’s about $3,000 cheaper to go to UCLA. UCLA also has more students that receive Pell Grants.

Public research universities dominated the list, accounting for 166 of the 300 institutions. Prestigious private schools, including smaller liberal arts schools, also performed well across the board.

Forbes highlighted the City University of New York and Baruch College as particularly good values. Nearly half of students at those universities receive Pell Grants and graduates earn an an average income of $103,000 in the middle of their careers.

Click here to see the full rankings.

Patch reporter Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images