USA’s Best Value Colleges for 2010

Princeton Review of The Institutions of USA

For the second consecutive year, The Princeton Review (Nasdaq: REVU), one of America's most widely known education services and test-prep companies, has teamed up with USA TODAY, the nation's most widely read print newspaper, to present a list of the 100 "Best Value Colleges" of the year.

The Princeton Review's 100 "Best Value Colleges" list for 2010 is based on data compiled and analyzed by The Princeton Review, the education services and test-prep company known for its annual college listings.

Following are the top 20 colleges or universities according to the Princeton Review.

TOP 20 'VALUE' PICKS PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 1. University of Virginia (Charlottesville) 2. City University of New York - Hunter College (New York, N.Y.) 3. New College of Florida (Sarasota) 4. Florida State University (Tallahassee) 5. University of Colorado-Boulder 6. State University of New York-Binghamton 7. University of Georgia (Athens) 8. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg) 9. Texas A&M University (College Station) 10. University of Oklahoma (Norman) PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS 1. Swarthmore College(Swarthmore, Pa.) 2. Harvard College(Cambridge, Mass.) 3. Wesleyan College(Macon, Ga.) 4. Princeton University(Princeton, N.J.) 5. Yale University (New Haven, Conn.) 6. Williams College (Williamstown, Mass.) 7. Rice University (Houston, Texas) 8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology(Cambridge, Mass.) 9. Amherst College (Amherst, Mass.) 10. Wellesley College (Wellesley, Mass.) Source:The Princeton Review This year's list keeps the University of Virginia and Swarthmore College in the No. 1 spots for public and private schools, like last year. Several others on this year's list also appeared last year, including Harvard, Florida State and the University of Georgia. Some are new to the top 10, such as the University of Colorado-Boulder, Texas A&M, MIT, Virginia Tech, the University of Oklahoma, Wellesley and Wesleyan College in Georgia.

Academic ratings were based on surveys of students about class sizes and professors' accessibility, as well as student/faculty ratios and percentage of classes taught by teaching assistants. Financial aid rankings came from school-reported data and student surveys, and factored in tuition, fees, room and board. Overall selection criteria included more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, costs and financial aid. Academic ratings were based on student surveys about such issues as professors' accessibility and class sizes, as well as institutional reports about student-faculty ratios and percent of classes taught by teaching assistants.