Princeton Review Selects U.Va. as Nation’s No. 3 Best Value

The University of Virginia has been selected again as one of the nation’s top values among public universities, according to the newest ranking released today by Princeton Review.

The annual list identifies the country’s top undergraduate institutions offering excellent academics, generous financial aid and/or a relatively low cost of attendance.

Princeton Review this year selected U.Va. as the No. 3 Best Value among public universities. The College of William & Mary is the only other Virginia university in the top 10. Both schools have been mainstays at the top of the Princeton Review rankings.

The 2014 list was released today in three sources. The rankings and detailed school profiles are available on the company’s website, in the Princeton Review book, “The Best Value Colleges: 2014 Edition” and at USATODAY.com.

“The Best Value Colleges” profiles 75 public and 75 private colleges that Princeton Review designates as Best Values based on the company’s surveys of 2,000 colleges and universities in 2012-13.

The selection process analyzed school-reported information across more than 30 data points covering academics, cost and financial aid as well as data from Princeton Review’s surveys of students at the schools over the past three academic years. 

Of the 75 schools in each group (public and private schools), Princeton Review names the top 10 colleges in ranked order and the remaining 65 in alphabetical order.

Others in the Top 10 among public institutions include the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, New College of Florida, North Carolina State University, the University of Michigan, the University of California-Los Angeles, the University of Florida, Truman State University and the State University of New York-Binghamton.

Princeton Review’s top values among private colleges include Williams College, Harvard University, Swarthmore College, Yale University and Princeton University.

U.Va. is consistently among the nation’s best in rankings of academic quality and value. Kiplinger magazine ranks the University No. 2 among “Best Values in Public Colleges,” while U.S. News & World Report ranks U.Va. the No. 2 public university overall.