These Are The Top Colleges In Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania: Forbes

PITTSBURGH, PA - Western Pennsylvania colleges and universities don’t appear to provide the best bang for the buck, according to rankings released Wednesday by Forbes. Carnegie Mellon University was rated the region’s best, but came in just 45th nationally and was fourth-best in the state behind the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College and Haverford College.

This year's rankings, Forbes explained, were created to better align with what the magazine values most, "superior return on investment; high impact, leadership and success; and a first-rate student-consumer experience."

Forbes describes the rankings as "fiscally minded" and noted they does not take into account things like campus atmosphere, Greek life, sports etc. The methodology favors variables like "alumni salary, graduation rate and student satisfaction." Post-graduate success accounted for 35 percent of the ranking; how effectively students at each school avoid or pay back student loan debt accounts for 20 percent of the rankings, as does the student experience. Graduation rate and academic success both account for 12.5 percent. (You can see the full methodology here.)

Carnegie Mellon has an average annual cost of $65,895, with an average of $30,132 in financial aid distributed. Only seven other colleges and universities were ranked along with CMU among the more than 600 colleges and universities. Here they are:

• University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh

National rank: 154
State rank: 14
Average annual cost: $42,462
Average financial aid: $10,899

• Grove City College, Grove City

National: 224
State: 17
Average annual cost: $26,806
Average financial aid: $5,845

• Duquesne University, Pittsburgh

National: 273
State: 21
Average annual cost: $48,796
Average financial aid: $17,828

• Allegheny College, Meadeville

National: 304
State: 24
Average annual cost: $56,710
Average financial aid: $27,624

• Washington & Jefferson College, Washington

National: 393
State: 29
Average annual cost: $56,160
Average financial aid: $25,039

• St. Vincent College, Latrobe

National: 424
State: 32
Average annual cost: $46,135
Average financial aid: $22,954

• Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana

National: 622
State: 40
Average annual cost: $36,815
Average financial aid: $6,515

Photo by Jiuguang Wang via Creative Commons.