Money Magazine’s New Best Value College Rankings

Money magazine has just released its 2015 best value college rankings, and we think they really do add value to the college search process. The rankings are here:https://best-colleges.time.com/money/full-ranking#/list.

Not only does Money post lots of interesting data you won’t find elsewhere, including its net price of a degree estimate which takes into account ALL institutional aid (merit, athletic and need-based), the magazine also gives each school a “value-added” grade which is based on how much the school out- or under- performs on graduation rates, student loan defaults and earnings compared to schools with similar percentages of low income students, and students with similar SAT/ACT scores.

The release of the Money rankings comes just a few weeks after the federal government gave up on its plans to try to provide college value ratings for consumers. It’s great that Money stepped into this vacuum to provide data and guidance on the questions surveys that show families are struggling with: What will a degree cost? What kinds of outcomes do alumni of this school report? Is this college worth the investment of our money and our child’s time?

According to Money, the rankings provide data on the 736 colleges that met its minimum standards (at or above the median for graduation rates for their type, not in financial distress as measured by Moody’s or the federal government, and sufficient data.)  If you want to search or screen throughthe Money rankings to go straight for a category or school of interest, they’ve added some cool new tools found here: https://best-colleges.time.com/money/search-colleges#/filter

Explore Colleges hopes you find these ranking useful.

Kathie Boozer is the founder and president of Explore Colleges, a premier college group tour operator. Explore Colleges’ customized tours  help students experience the unique cultures, environments, and opportunities on each campus and inspire them to follow their dreams. Contact Kathie at kboozer@explorecolleges.org