Princeton Review names UW-Madison a “Best Value”

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is one of 50 public colleges and universities, and 100 colleges overall, selected as “Best Value Colleges for 2011” by the Princeton Review.

Among Big Ten universities, Michigan State, Ohio State, the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities also made the list.

The full list of rankings may be found in the Tuesday, Feb. 22 edition of USA Today, as well as online here.

The Princeton Review chose the schools as its “Best Value Colleges” for 2011 based on criteria covering academics, cost of attendance, and financial aid. The methodology examined more than 30 factors using data from Princeton Review surveys of administrators and students at 650 colleges with strong academic programs.  Most of the data analyzed came from surveys conducted from fall 2009 through fall 2010; all cost and financial aid data came from fall 2010 surveys.

“While a college education is undeniably a valuable investment, paying for college is challenging for most parents,” said Robert Franek, Princeton Review senior vice president for publishing. “Among the 12,000 respondents to our 2010 ‘College Hopes & Worries Survey’ of college applicants and their parents, 86 percent told us financial aid would be ‘very necessary’ to foot the bill. For them, and for all families seeking academically outstanding colleges that have been exceptional at meeting their students’ needs for financial aid, we’re pleased to have teamed up with USA Today to identify and recommend these 100 institutions as ‘Best Value’ colleges.”

The University of Virginia was deemed the nation’s top value among public colleges and universities. UW–Madison is the only Wisconsin school, public or private, to make the list.