MONEY Magazine ranked the best colleges for your money -- taking into account both the annual tuition costs and the overall value of the education received. Out of 711 colleges and universities, six Colorado colleges made the list.
Choosing the right college is arguably one of the most important decisions of a person's life. And lucky for Colorado kids, a report from MONEY says they don't need to go very far. Six colleges in Colorado made the 2017 list of Best Colleges and Universities for Your Money. Colorado School of Mines provides the best value of any other Colorado institution, coming in at No. 134 on the list. Of course, it's highly selective (the median SAT/ACT score is 1320/30) and only 38 percent of applicants get in, but once a student is accepted, they can expect to pay $33,600 in annual tuition (before any financial aid). But the payoff of a Mines degree? The average grad makes $65,700 within five years of graduation. A whopping 64 percent of low-income students will eventually become upper middle class, according to the report. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="19209,19207"] Further down the list of 711 best colleges for your money were Colorado State University (No. 274), Colorado College (No. 294), University of Colorado Boulder (No. 348), Regis University (No. 354), and University of Denver (No. 387).A Colorado State University student will pay $26,300 in tuition (before aid) and make an average of $47,900 within five years of graduating, while a University of Colorado Boulder student will pay more ($33,100 annually before aid), but then make $51,300 on average, within five years. [caption id="attachment_19204" align="aligncenter" width="305"] Image courtesy of Colorado State University[/caption] Meanwhile, University of Denver costs $63,600 per year (prior to any aid) with alumni bringing in an average salary of $49,300 five years after graduating.College is now the second-largest financial expenditure for many families, exceeded only by the purchase of a home," the report states. "So it isn’t surprising that parents and students are taking a hard look at the costs and payoffs of any college they consider. To help families do that, MONEY has drawn on the research and advice of dozens of the nation’s top experts on education quality, financing, and value to develop a new, uniquely practical analysis of more than 700 of the nation’s best-performing colleges."
The No. 1 and No. 2 schools on the list were Princeton University and CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College, respectively.
To even be considered for the rankings, a school had to have a minimum of 500 students, have reliable data to be analyzed, not be experiencing any financial issues, and have adequate graduation rates. Those factors alone whittled the list from 2,400 down to 711. MONEY then ranked those remaining institutions based on quality of education, affordability, and outcomes, with each weighing multiple factors (27 data points total).
Read a full report of the analysts' methodology here, or see the full, comprehensive list of rankings here. What do you think? Are you surprised by the rankings? Do Colorado schools deserve their place on the list of best colleges for the money? Leave a comment below, and let's get the conversation started!