How We Rank the Best College Values, 2019

To come up with our best values, we start with data on nearly 1,200 public and private four-year schools from Peterson's Undergraduate Database, then add our own reporting. This year, , plus 100 schools that just missed our list but also deliver great value. We narrow the list based on measures of academic quality. We then rank each school using cost and financial aid measures. Quality criteria account for 55% of total points, and cost criteria account for 45%.