5 Main Line Area Colleges Offer Best Value, New Ranks Say

A new list of ranks from MONEY Magazine looks at colleges that offer the best bang for your buck, and a handful of Main Line institutions of higher learning were featured on the list.

MONEY ranked 727 of the country's best colleges based on quality of education, affordability and outcomes.

The publication pared down its rankings by only including institutions that had at least 500 students, had sufficient, reliable data that could be analyzed, and weren't strapped for cash. The colleges also had graduation rates that were at least the median for its institutional category — public, private or historically black college or university — or had a high "value-added" graduation rate.

These are the Main Line schools and their ranks from MONEY:

• Swarthmore College, Swarthmore (42)
• Haverford College, Haverford (74)
• Villanova University, Villanova (153)
• Immaculata University, Immaculata (262)
• Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia (278)

The best school for you money in Pennsylvania is the University of Pennsylvania, which was ranked No. 14 overall.

MONEY used research and expert advice on education quality, financing, and value to create its rankings. Princeton University in New Jersey ranked No. 1 overall with a median SAT/ACT score of 1500/34 and an estimated price without aid of $67,700. Money says every student at Princeton who needs a grant gets one, and the average recipient sees the estimated price fall to $19,000.

MONEY acknowledged that money isn't everything when it comes to college, noting that what students actually learn remains somewhat of a mystery.

"The various assessments of college student learning are controversial, few colleges use them and very few of the ones that do release the results publicly," the authors wrote.

The researchers said they couldn't find "good data on basic indicators" for academic rigor, such as the number of pages of writing and reading required per assignment. The authors also highlighted that they didn't adjust the earnings data to cost of living, so some colleges located in poorer areas or areas with low costs of living may be ranked too low.

Click here to see the full rankings.

With reporting by Dan Hampton

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