The 11 Best-Value Liberal Arts Colleges: Kiplinger List

The private financial advising company Kiplinger has added their own take to the vast array of college rankings available by determining the 200 best college values.

Kiplinger relied on data from Peterson's, whittling down its final lists down from 600 schools and reviewing each for value based on quality, competitiveness and cost, among other factors.

Below, check out the 11 best values in liberal arts colleges, and see the Kiplinger website for a sortable lis of schools, which includes a complete data profile for each college.

Does your school rank? Share your thoughts and reactions below.

And be sure to check out Kiplinger's 11 Best-Value Private Universities.

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Swarthmore College

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Total cost per year: $52,650

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Total cost per year: $52,650

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No Way I'd Pay

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Comments

[rjaxone]

12:29 AM on 11/18/2010

What! Where's Alaska Tech?

[LynnW49]

03:50 PM on 11/13/2010

I'd add this one to the list, at $6,000 less a year:

Allegheny College, Meadville, PA
Total Cost of Attendance $46,400
Tuition and Fees $34,810
Room and Board $8,790
Books and Supplies $1,000
Other Expenses $1,800

100.0% of applicants with financial need received some form of assistance.
Need Fully Met 159 (39.6%) of aid recipients
Average Percent of Need Met 92%
Average Award $27,731

Academic ranking nationally, among all US colleges: 132nd.

[Brian Robbins]

06:12 PM on 11/09/2010

Um....That picture of Claremont McKenna isn't Claremont McKenna.....it's Scripps College.

[JDHART]

05:53 AM on 11/05/2010

Having a high school senior in the DC-area, I know that this is yet another list of schools that she'll never get into. You. Can. Stop. Now.

[runnerchicka91]

12:56 PM on 11/12/2010

I'm from Chicagoland. I never thought I could get into let alone afford to go to a school like this. Yet here I am at Washington and Lee happy and debt free. Don't assume that since the schools look fancy that they are impossible to get into.

[Fretchen]

12:45 PM on 11/14/2010

My parents were divorced. I lived with my mother whose income as a teacher was well below $40,000. I attended and graduated from Washington & Lee. My total student debt was zero.

All students accepted to these institutions have to be exceptional (in W&L's case, only 15% of applicants were accpted in 2009 and all were in the nation's top 5% based on GPA, test scores, etc.). Once accepted, however, the institutions ensure there is little or no financial burden for those who cannot afford the costs.

Generally speaking, insitutues at these levels provide outstanding scholarships, grants, and stipends to qualified applicants. Bottom line: If you or your children have the ability, the schools will supply the means.

[JDHART]

08:36 AM on 11/23/2010

Yeah, but my kids have B-B+ grades and no, they can't get in. It isn't always about the money. My kids have a 529 plan and their tuition was paid for a long time ago. All they have to do is come up with the GPA (their school has one of the most difficult grading policies in the country). Also, we are at a geographical disadvantage that every school claims they don't look at, but do. I'm NOT talking about getting into Harvard or even the University of Virginia. I'm talking about getting into Virginia Tech or James Madison -- schools that a few years ago were considered safety schools. Either the high schools aren't doing enough to prepare the kids for college, or the colleges have let their USN&WR ratings go to their heads. As a parent, I'm anxious for them and resentful. I guess I should have skipped the 529 and gone for one of the $50,000 a year "value" colleges. I bet they'd get in then.

[Tmboy]

10:46 PM on 11/04/2010

how the heck is that best value? 53k per year are you serious? did you just get a list of the most expensive colleges?

[emncaity]

06:12 PM on 11/09/2010

Was just about to post that. Who has this kind of money, or even half of it? Sheesh.

[Reyeshawk13]

12:32 AM on 11/11/2010

Williams guarantees to meet all financial need and that students will graduate loan free. Now if my daughter can just get accepted.

[emncaity]

10:47 AM on 11/11/2010

Good luck all around--I know what _I'd_ do if I had the choice between Williams or Amherst, versus UT...

[JTHC75]

06:43 PM on 11/04/2010

Oh good grief, people, people in financial need do not pay full tuition at these institutions. I went to one of the ones listed here, and I paid less than what my wife paid to attend a state school. And no, it wasn't in loans, it was in flat-out grants by the school itself.

The biggest obstacle to people attending these schools isn't the money, but the perception that it requires money.

[JTHC75]

06:53 PM on 11/04/2010

BTW, when I was accepted at my school, I was told very explicitly that they would do whatever it took to make sure that I could attend, from a financial standpoint. And they certainly did not lie on that account.

Everyone deriding the sticker price--all you're doing is doing yourself and your kids a disservice by assuming that an education at a top-flight school is out of reach. It makes me sad to think how many underprivileged but bright kids never even bother to apply to these schools because they assume, like all of you, that these schools are only for rich people.

[koukla1234]

11:00 AM on 11/04/2010

I have kids attending two of the listed colleges. Both have a no-loan financial aid program where their need is fully met by grants. Our income is less than $100,000/year and we pay less to send our kids to these incredible schools than we would to send them to the scholars program at our very good state school. I encourage anyone interested in these schools to pursue it...the excellent teaching, opportunities for research and leadership in a smaller school are there.

[emncaity]

06:12 PM on 11/09/2010

Yeah? How about an income less than $35K a year?

[Reyeshawk13]

12:34 AM on 11/11/2010

Then at most of these schools, it's free. Stanford, Yale, Harvard and many of the schools on this list all require no money from students with a family income below $60k.

[runnerchicka91]

12:57 PM on 11/12/2010

I totally understand that boat and I got into one of these schools and am not paying a cent.

[Gigi36]

08:46 AM on 11/04/2010

How can an average family ever dream of sending their kids to one of these schools. Well over $200,000.00 for 4 years and that doesn't include any extras like books or activities. The American dream is long gone!

[frank day]

08:58 AM on 11/04/2010

Most of these colleges have large endowments to help with the cost of attendance for students with need.
Don't let the cost deter your student from applying to these schools.
Some of them could cost less out of pocket than a state university would.

[slackbatter]

09:08 AM on 11/04/2010

Yeah, the sticker price is very misleading. Need-based and even non-need based aid is usually pretty good at these schools. And their students are much more likely to graduate in 4 years and start earning money rather than paying for a 5th year of college.

They need a high sticker price so that they are taken seriously by rich people who can pay the full price, which helps those who aren't able to pay.

[Jeffrey Zacko-Smith]

07:11 AM on 11/04/2010

These are great schools, but guising them as a "value" is totally misleading . . . really, a lie.

[paulys]

06:54 AM on 11/04/2010

these schools are also highly selective, so either you are very smart and very poor, or, you are pretty smart and very wealthy already. either way, that is usually the first cost, then comes the additional $150 - $200K for grad school, med school, or law school. US News "best value public liberal arts schools has a list of extremely successful public schools like William & Mary, UNC - Asheville, among others. ALso check out "Colleges that Change Lives" www.ctcl.com for a great list of liberal arts schools that don't cost an arm and a leg.

[SvrWx]

06:27 AM on 11/04/2010

Only 1 college below 50K/year? What a deal!! Sign me up **snicker**

[lightist]

05:28 AM on 11/04/2010

That's 200-grand to pay back unless your rich. That forces 99% of all loan grads to go into big money fields to pay back. What about those who go into fields like the arts where paying back takes decades? That means those folks are stiffed for decades. Hamstrung by $ worries big time. Best to go out in the world and do it without the crippling money debt on the front end of life.

[PeterMelzer]

06:33 AM on 11/04/2010

Too true. Blessed are the residents of states with good public schools. They get most bang for the buck.

Read more here:
http://brainmindinst.blogspot.com/2010/07/value-of-education-economically.html

[lightist]

05:44 PM on 11/04/2010

Thanks, PeterMelzer. I've already opened the site and will read it forthwith.

Fanned for sure.

[JTHC75]

06:46 PM on 11/04/2010

If you're not rich, you will not pay full tuition. These schools have massive endowments which allow them to subsidize the educations of poor and middle-class students. I was one of the poor kids that attended one of these schools--paid less than $10k tuition over four years, which was considerably less than what my (equally poor) wife paid to attend a state school.

[tbrnotb]

12:19 AM on 11/04/2010

Best valued or most over-valued?

[morniet]

12:12 AM on 11/04/2010

Sigh.

Because of need based grants (not loans), average people pay less than half of full tuition.

If you're super rich, 50k is a bargain anyway.
If your not, you pay almost nothing. (I'm paying less than 2k per year)

These school have:
"Because we are so confident that you will earn so much money once you graduate, we'll pay for your education. Once you're famous and rich, make sure to donate some money" - kind of attitude

As for how good these schools are... mine has 94% acceptance rate into med schools!
double that of national average and higher than all Ivy leagues.

I don't know about you, but I think all these for 2k is a bargain.

[mratcheson]

01:31 AM on 11/04/2010

Middle class people aren't generally given the 2k break. And these tuition costs really are more than middle class people are able to manage. Think about people earning, say $80,000 a year, being able to pay $50,000+ a year for the education of one child.

But good for you! I'm sure you will do well by your fellow citizens in the future with the advantage you have been provided. (Honest, this isn't sarcasm.)

[frank day]

09:02 AM on 11/04/2010

A family earning 80K would still receive very significant assistance at most of these schools.
Students who work hard and achieve still have many opportunities afforded to them.
If they apply for them.
Every year, huge amounts of assistance goes unclaimed.

[Reyeshawk13]

12:39 AM on 11/11/2010

We're pretty close to your $80k figure and the Ivies, Stanford, Williams and Amherst all will cost around $6k.

[misssooshi]

12:07 AM on 11/04/2010

Wow, I was going to send this to my - I'm not kidding - really intelligent son who dropped out after 3 semesters. I'm glad I read the comments first. 53k? This is like Jason Linkin's pundit post on this site that 17% un/underemployment will cause people to "wonder IF they can go on vacation". Talk about disconnect. I say concentrate on the many quality state schools. Here in Wisconsin we have several. Now that we flipped completely Repug, however, I doubt he will get the aid he deserves.

[WhereIsTheTruth]

12:22 AM on 11/04/2010

I agree, based largely upon the disconnect between what's ideal and what's real. When I went to college I busted my brain to do well in school to qualify for grants and scholarships. I managed to drum up enough to fund my entire education. After I started classes, I was called into the financial aid office and told that I could not keep all of the grant I earned because my parents made too much money and should be able to pay for it. They reduced my grant by the amount I was "overqualified for" and I had to take out $10K if federal student loans to stay in class. I had to drop out after the first year and could not afford to go back to school for 15 years! I wouldn't have had that problem if I'd gone to a state school, except that I didn't qualify for in state rates anywhere because I was an Army brat and graduated from a DoDDS school overseas.