Which N.J. college is nation’s best value? You might not believe it

Kiplinger Personal Finance has announced its top 300 public and private colleges in terms of value, and while seven total institutions in New Jersey found themselves on the list, one in particular found itself at No. 1 overall.And the answer may surprise you.

That’s right, contrary to what might only be called “conventional wisdom,” Princeton University has been named Kiplinger’s best college value.

Sandra Block, senior associate editor at Kiplinger, spoke on this apparent cognitive dissonance.

“That’s because you’re looking at how much it costs to go there,” she said. “It’s the big distinction between sticker price and net price.”

How did it achieve this title?

“About 40 percent of students who go to Princeton pay the sticker price, but 60 percent pay less — and they pay a lot less,” Block said. “If you can get in, and that’s a big if, Princeton will go out of its way to make an education affordable for you.”

For one, its admittance rate of 7 percent leaves a student-to-faculty ratio of 6:1 and a four-year graduation rate of 88 percent.

The total cost, per year, at Princeton is $59,165 — but the average need-based aid is $37,183. That amount takes a big chunk out of students’ debt, making the average amount of money owed at graduation a mere $5,552.

Block attributes that number to Princeton’s “no loan” policy, a policy it was the first in the nation to adopt back in 2001.

“Typically, with any school, you’ll fill out the financial aid forms and they’ll come back with an offer. With most schools, it’s a mix of direct grants, scholarships and loans,” she said. “At Princeton, 100 percent of what they offer you is grants and scholarships.”

The next New Jersey college on the list is The College of New Jersey, which ranks at No. 89. TCNJ has a college admittance rate of 43 percent, a 13:1 student/teacher ratio and a 73 percent four-year graduation rate. The annual tuition at the school is $38,517 but the school offers, on average, $11,636 of need-based aid, leaving the average student with $32,362 in debt at graduation.

Other schools on the list include Stevens Institute of Technology (No. 99), Rutgers University (No. 145), Rowan University (No. 242), Ramapo College (No. 259) and the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey (No. 298).

Conspicuously missing from the list is the New Jersey Institute of Technology, which was once named the cheapest, best college for its low tuition and high starting salary average by BuzzFeed.

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