Kiplinger’s Personal Finance ranks Elon #29 in value among the nation’s private universities and #17 nationally in lowest total cost.
In its annual ranking of the top values in higher education, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance ranks Elon #17 in total cost, and #29 in overall best value among the nation’s private colleges and universities. The ranking is the 10th consecutive top-50 best value recognition of Elon by Kiplinger’s.
Kiplinger’s says Elon and the other top-value schools “combine outstanding academics with affordable cost.” Elon’s total cost is $10,000-$20,000 lower than most of the other top-30 private universities ranked by Kiplinger’s. Costs at 1,200 schools were analyzed in Kiplinger’s ranking.
Elon, Duke University and Wake Forest University are the only schools in the Carolinas and Virginia included in the private universities category.
Kiplinger’s assesses value by measurable standards of academic quality and affordability. Quality measures include the admission rate, the percentage of students who return for sophomore year, the student-faculty ratio and four-year graduation rate. Cost criteria include sticker price, financial aid and average debt at graduation.
Elon has a 12-1 student-faculty ratio, a four-year graduation rate of 78 percent, and more than 90 percent of freshmen return for their sophomore year.
The top 30 schools in this year’s Kiplinger’s ranking of best-value private universities include the following:
- Princeton University
- Harvard University
- Vanderbilt University
- Rice University
- Yale University
- Duke University
- California Institute of Technology
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Stanford University
- Emory University
- Dartmouth College
- Brown University
- University of Pennsylvania
- Cornell University
- Northwestern University
- University of Notre Dame
- Georgetown University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Boston College
- Washington University in St. Louis
- Brigham Young University
- Tufts University
- Lehigh University
- Wake Forest University
- Trinity University
- University of Southern California
- Clark University
- University of Rochester
- Elon University
- Santa Clara University