5 NJ colleges make Princeton Review’s Best Value list

Five New Jersey colleges made the 2021 list of the Best Value Colleges from the Princeton Review.

The College of New Jersey in Ewing, Drew University in Madison, New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, Princeton University in Princeton, and Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken were not ranked in any order, but were on the list of 200 schools.

The colleges are chosen based on data collected from fall 2019 through fall 2020 via institutional and student surveys and from PayScale.com, which includes information on alumni career and salary statistics. The Princeton Review said it weighted more than 40 data points covering academics, costs, financial aid, debt, grad rates, and career/salary data in its decisions.

According to Princeton Review Editor-in-Chief Rob Franek, colleges on the list represent about 1.2% of the four-year undergraduate institutions in the U.S.

“These exceptional schools differ in many ways, yet they are alike in that all offer outstanding academics and excellent career services. As important to today’s college applicants and their parents: These colleges have a comparatively low sticker price and/or generous financial aid offerings,” Franek said in a prepared statement. “We recommend and commend them highly for everything their administrators, faculties, staff, and alumni are doing to educate their students and to guide them to post-college success.”