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Princeton Review names William Jewell among top 10 of nation’s ‘Best Value’ colleges
Contact: Rob Eisele, 816-415-7574
04/20/2005
After scoring the top slot as the nation’s “Best Bargain” among private colleges in The Princeton Review’s “Best 357 Colleges” in the fall of 2004, William Jewell College has been placed among the top 10 in The Princeton Review’s new guidebook to “America’s Best Value Colleges.”
The Princeton Review compiled its list of 81 public and private “Best Value” colleges based on data obtained from administrators at more than 350 colleges and from surveys of college students. Rankings were based on more than 30 factors in four categories: academics, tuition, financial aid and student borrowing. In naming its “Best Value” colleges, the guidebook service cited the schools’ outstanding academics, generous financial aid packages and relatively low costs.
“We chose the schools that appear on our Top Ten Best Value Colleges list based on institutional data and student opinion surveys,” said Robert Franek, vice president for publishing at The Princeton Review. “Broadly speaking, the factors we weighed covered undergraduate academics, costs and financial aid.”
More specifically, academic factors included the quality of students the schools attract, as measured by admission credentials, as well as how students rated their academic experiences.
“It’s interesting to note that Princeton’s number one ‘Best Value’ college [Bates College in Lewiston, Maine] costs about $40,000 a year,” said Dr. Ned Harris, vice president for enrollment and dean of admission at William Jewell. “Jewell’s tuition, fees, room and board for the 2004-2005 academic year was less than $23,000. We firmly believe that William Jewell provides an outstanding liberal arts education that is also a tremendous value.”
William Jewell, located in the Kansas City suburb of Liberty, Mo., was ranked in the number nine slot and was the only Midwestern institution named to Princeton’s list of “Best Value” colleges.
Financial aid factors considered in compiling the list included the average gift aid in grants and scholarships awarded to students, along with the average percentage of financial need met for students who demonstrated need.
“In a nutshell, the Top Ten Best Value Colleges names schools that we believe offer outstanding academics and enroll good students who are happy with the education they are receiving,” Franek said. “Additionally—and more importantly—it names schools in which students do not have to mortgage their futures to pay for their education.”
William Jewell was named the number one “Best Bargain” among private colleges in the 2005 edition of “The Best 357 Colleges,” which was published by The Princeton Review in the fall of 2004. The college also scored among the top 20 in several other categories, including capturing the number two spot in “Happiest Students”; the number five slot in “Town-Gown Relations,” which indicates how well the college is integrated into the surrounding community; the number eight slot in “Best Quality of Life”; and the number 11 slot for “Great College Radio Station.”
“We have always believed that William Jewell provides an outstanding value for students seeking a top quality liberal arts education,” said President David Sallee. “We are gratified that the Princeton Review has affirmed the value of the Jewell experience, and at the same time has indicated that students have expressed an extraordinary level of satisfaction with the education they are receiving.”
The Princeton Review is a New York City-based company known for its college test preparatory courses, education services and books. The firm first published its annual “Best Colleges” guide in 1992. The book is the only resource that offers college ratings based on student rankings of schools.
For a link to The Princeton Review’s rankings of William Jewell and other top colleges, go to http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/bestvalue/default.asp
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Rob
Eisele
Director of Communications
816-415-7574 / ext.5387
Mark
Van Tilburg
Executive Director
of College Relations
816-415-7816 / ext.5518
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