Best 45 MA Colleges For Your Money: Report

Massachusetts is home to some of the most highly esteemed colleges and universities in the country, but are they cost effective? According to Money, a division of Time.com, 45 colleges and universities in the Bay State were ranked among the 711 best colleges for the money in the country.

MIT topped the list, followed by Harvard University and Williams College in Williamstown. Twelve of the 45 institutions were listed in the top 100 nationally, and 34 were listed in the top 500. (To sign up for Patch's daily newsletters and breaking news alerts for your community, click here.)

In order to qualify for the rankings schools must have at least 500 students, have sufficient data to be analyzed, not be in financial distress and have a graduation rate at or above the median for its institutional category or have a high "value-added" graduation rate. The schools were judged on quality of education, affordability and educational outcomes.

The rankings were based on data from the U.S. Department of Education, Peterson's and Payscale.com.

Here's a look at where Massachusetts schools landed (national ranking in parentheses).

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (8)
2. Harvard University, Cambridge (10)
3. Williams College, Williamstown (25)
4. Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Buzzards Bay (26)
5. Amherst College, Amherst (28)
6. Babson College, Wellesley (58)
7. Tufts University, Medford/Somerville (64)
8. College of the Holy Cross, Worcester (68)
9. Wellesley College, Wellesley (69)
10. Bentley University, Waltham (78)
11. Boston College, Chestnut Hill (88)
12. Northeastern University, Boston (94)
13. Simmons College, Boston (109)
14. University of Massachusetts - Amherst, Amherst (110)
15. Stonehill College, Easton (121)
16. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester (142)
17. Boston University, Boston (204)
18. Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley (210)
19. Clark University, Worcester (219)
20. Brandeis University, Waltham (229)
21. College of Our Lady of the Elms, Chicopee (243)
22. Westfield State University, Westfield (259)
23. Assumption College, Worcester (277)
24. University of Massachusetts - Lowell, Lowell (282)
25. Smith College, Northampton (288)
26. Wheaton College, Norton (299)
27. Merrimack College, North Andover (316)
28. Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston (334)
29. MCPHS University, Boston (390)
30. Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston (417)
31. Salem State University, Salem (458)
32. Worcester State University, Worcester (481)
33. Regis College, Weston (491)
34. Framingham State University, Framingham (499)
35. Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg (521)
36. Endicott College, Beverly (532)
37. Wheelock College, Boston (540)
38. Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater (542)
39. Emmanuel College, Boston (566)
40. Gordon College, Wenham (569)
41. Bay Path University, Longmeadow (584)
42. Springfield College, Springfield (593)
43. Emerson College, Boston (609)
44. Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams (648)
45. Hampshire College, Amherst (697)

Here's a look at the top 10 colleges nationally. To view the full rankings, click here.

1. Princeton University, New Jersey
2. CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College, New York
3. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Michigan
4. University of California-Berkely, California
5. University of California-Los Angeles, California
6. (T-5) Stanford University, California
7. University of California-Irvine, California
8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts
9. University of California-Davis, California
10. Harvard University, Massachusetts

Image: Fcb981, edited by Thermos, via Wikimedia Commons