The Best Best-College List

This week, USA Today did a piece on The Princeton Review’s 100 Best Value Colleges for 2009. They’ve got a top private college list (with Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford–the usual suspects–in the top ten) and one for public institutions.

The problem with these lists is that they are largely based on student and administrator comments, and obviously, these folks might offer rave reviews of their particular schools. However, it’s not likely to be a very objective list in terms of Real-World value. Just because Harvard students think they’re getting a great education and they’re happy with their financial aid package doesn’t mean the education they are getting is more VALUABLE once it’s time to get a job. In fact, most employers will tell you they don’t spend much time considering the value of one school over another–all they care about is that their prospective employees have a reasonably relevant degree—plus some experience, good skills, flexibility, a good work ethic and plenty of enthusiasm.

Lists that promote the Ivies and near-Ivies just feed into the fear that parents and students have about the future: “In an uncertain economy, I guess it’s best to go with the brand name because I don’t trust that I/my student will have the skills to be successful without it.”

Sad.

That, in a nutshell, is why families are willing to go through the stress and financial hardship required to send their kid to a “top” school. It’s all about fear. After all, if you had faith in your kid to do well, you wouldn’t need to rely on that old-school, old-boys’ idea of getting ahead through college connections.

So, if a fancy college degree can’t promise value in terms of guaranteed success (and it can’t), it might be better to gauge the value of a college education in more balanced terms: the academic quality, the costs, the aid granted, and a number of other factors. In other words, if a student is rarin’ to go, very motivated and confident in their ability to do well in the world–without relying on a brand-name diploma–where might he or she choose to go to college?

If you’re not so scared that you fall for the better-go-for-the-brand-name bit, there’s another list you need to check out. It’s from Kiplinger’s. The Kiplinger Letter, launched in 1923, remains the longest continually published newsletter in the United States. In 1947, Kiplinger’s created the nation’s first personal finance magazine, and they’ve been serving up valuable info on that topic ever since.

They’ve got their own list of public institutions that offer the biggest bang for the buck. Check out their list of Best Values in Public Colleges 2008-2009

Learn about the methodology behind the list here.

Tagged as: best deals in college education, best financial aid, best value colleges, global economy, Harvard, Ivy League, Kiplinger's, most affordable university degree, Princeton, Stanford, The New Global Student, The Princeton Review, top colleges, top private colleges, top state colleges, top universities, USA Today Best Colleges, Yale