Penn not included on Princeton Review's Best Value list

Penn is noticeably absent from the 2010 Princeton Review and USA Today rankings of “Best Value Colleges.”

The results, released yesterday, included several peer institutions, with Princeton University and Yale University taking the fourth and fifth places respectively for private colleges.

Swarthmore College, located just outside of Philadelphia, was ranked number one on the private college list.

Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University, Harvard University, Stanford University, Rice University and University of Chicago all made the top 50 list. After the top 10, the list is published in alphabetical order.

Penn was not included on last year’s list either, which also ranked Swarthmore number one for matching 100 percent of financial aid need.

This new ranking comes after Kiplinger’s named Penn the eighth best value in private colleges on its November list.

A press release from the Princeton Review stated that “selection criteria covered more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, costs of attendance, and financial aid.”

The rankings used data from more than 650 public and private institutions’ 2008-2009 academic year.

Concerning public colleges, University of Virginia and City University of New York-Hunter College topped the Princeton Reveiw’s list.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.