The Princeton Review this week included five New Jersey higher education institutions on its annual list of Best Value Colleges based on an analysis of more than 40 data points that cover academics, affordability and career outcomes for graduates.
The New Jersey schools on nationwide list of Best Value Colleges for 2023 include, in alphabetical order, The College of New Jersey in Ewing; Drew University in Madison; New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark; Princeton University in Princeton; and Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken.
“We commend—and recommend—each of the 209 schools that made our Best Value Colleges list for 2023,” said Rob Franek, editor-in-chief of The Princeton Review. “They share three exceptional distinctions: stellar academics, strong career prospects for their graduates, and affordable cost via generous financial aid or a comparatively low sticker price (or both!). For these reasons and many others, our Best Value Colleges are truly a select group. They comprise only about 8% of the nation’s 2,637 four-year undergraduate degree-granting institutions.”
The Princeton Review did not rank all 209 schools overall from 1 to 209. However, in addition to the main alphabetical listing, it did provide numerical rankings for the top 50 best value public and private colleges, as well as top 20 rankings in six other specialized categories.
In the project’s primary ranking list category of the top 50 public and 50 private best value colleges, Georgia Institute of Technology is No. 1 on the Best Value Public Colleges list and Massachusetts Institute of Technology is No. 1 on the Best Value Private Colleges list. Three New Jersey institutions are also ranked among the top 50. Princeton University is No. 2 on the Best Value Private Colleges list. NJIT is ranked No. 35 on the Best Value Public Colleges List and the College of New Jersey is No. 46.
In the other specialized ranking lists, Princeton University and Stevens Insitute of Technology are among the top 20 private schools for career placement. NJIT was among the top 20 public colleges for career placement. Princeton University was also among the top 20 private schools for financial aid and the top 20 best value private schools for students without a demonstrated financial need.
The Princeton Review chose the 209 schools — 135 of which are private and 74 of which are public — based on data from its surveys of administrators at more than 650 colleges in 2022–23. Survey topics covered academics, cost, financial aid, career services, graduation rates, student debt, and alumni support. The company also factored in data from its surveys of students attending the colleges and PayScale.com’s surveys of alumni of the schools about their starting and mid-career salaries and job satisfaction.
The Princeton Review on Wednesday posted the Best Value Colleges for 2023 list and the project’s seven ranked lists on its website at https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/best-value-colleges.
